I Can't Deny It Anymore
by SmAsHBrownGuy
Summary: Seishirou Tsugumi: master assassin, Chitoge Kirisaki's guardian...and in love with Raku Ichijo, the one guy that she can't have...or can she? When Seishirou takes a long needed vacation at Chitoge's recommendation, she thinks that she'll be able to escape it all. But from the moment she encounters Raku on the plane there, she knows this vacation will be anything but normal...
1. A Vacation

_A/N: Nisekoi…a spectacular show and manga, and this fiction will hopefully do it the justice it deserves!_

_Now, let's get a few things straight here before we begin: I'm perfectly fine with every other girl in Nisekoi! I love all of them, and their various respective traits, strengths and weaknesses. _

_However, Seishirou captured my heart the most out of all of them. And I picked up the Seishirou x Raku ship fairly fast. _

_So what do you do when you fall in love with something? You express that love in whatever way you know how! _

_So, without further ado, let's get into this, shall we?_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Aaaa…**ACHOO!**" Seishirou sneezed as she violently lurched forward, springing herself from the pink bedsheets of Chitoge Kirisaki's bed. She extended her arm and pulled a tissue from the Kleenex box on the nightstand next to her, wiping it across her nose before crumpling it up and tossing it haphazardly into the trashcan across the room. Chitoge, who was sitting across from her, dressed in her usual school outfit and bunny ears, sprang out of her seat and put her hands on Seishirou's shoulders.

"Now now," the blonde gently cooed as she gently eased Seishirou, who was dressed in only a set of modest blue pajamas, back into bed, "just take it easy, ok?"

All this mess had started earlier this same week; one day, Seishirou had been walking through the halls of the glorious Beehive/Kirisaki estate, and collapsed. After a thorough examination by one of the Beehive's best nurses, it was ruled out as exhaustion.

"M'lady," Seishirou replied as Chitoge pulled the covers over her and tucked Seishirou back in, "with all due respect, I'm perfectly fine! The medic has no idea what he's saying!"

"Nonsense," Chitoge replied with a glistening smile across that perfect face of hers, "Tatsuhara's the best medic the Beehive has ever known, Claude himself even said so!"

Seishirou shook her head out of disdain for that fact, her dark blue locks swaying as she did so, her bangs dusting the corners of her amber eyes, and replied, "Honestly, I'm-"

"_Seishirou Tsugumi…_" Chitoge said sternly, but playfully, "You're going to rest, and that's that!"

Seishirou went to rise up out of her blankets, but only got to a sitting position before the look she received from Chitoge told her that enough was enough. Retaining her sitting position, she leaned up against the mound of fluffy, feathery pillows behind her, and sighed a sigh of surrender. The two sat in silence for a little while, simply miring at Chitoge's vast expanse of a room; the polished wood dresser with a mirror that was surrounded by many assorted, tiny gems, the mahogany doors that led to her closet that was practically a separate room of its own, the pink carpet with the large, circular rug in the middle that had a giant heart imprint on it, and the curtains that opened up to her balcony with the perfect view of the sprawling expanse of the city. On it, one could experience the crisp breezes of autumn with the wafting aroma of freshly cut grass and flowers from the garden along with the subtle scents of the neighborhood nearby.

After a few minutes, Chitoge spoke up and said, "I can't take it anymore!"

"What, the silence?" Seishirou inquired as she returned her attention to her mistress.

"No, not that!" Chitoge replied, "The fact that you've been working so hard to protect me that you've actually gotten sick! I feel responsible for all of this…" Chitoge hung her head low as she uttered those final few words, and gazed at Seishirou with a look of morose.

"I keep trying to tell you," Seishirou responded somewhat nervously, "I probably just fainted because of a cold or some freak thing with my body, it's fine!"

Chitoge raised her head up and shrugged her shoulders as she replied, "Maybe, but that still doesn't stop me from wanting to take responsibility for my actions!"

Seishirou raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, and inquired, "How do you plan to do that, m'lady?"

Chitoge put her right elbow in the palm of her left hand, and placed her right index finger on her lip as she made a slight, "Hmmmmmm…" before snapping her fingers and exclaiming, "A vacation!"

"V-Vacation?" Seishirou stuttered in reply, "Oh no, there's no way I could-"

"You should!" Chitoge interrupted as she placed her left hand on Seishirou's shoulder and shook her from side to side, "No, strike that, you _have to_!"

When Chitoge finally stopped shaking her and she regained her senses, Seishirou replied, "Even if that's so, and I had a destination planned, there's no way I could afford it!"

"Are you really that underpaid?" Chitoge inquired, cocking her head to the side out of curiosity.

Seishirou nodded in reply and said, "I'm fine with my wages, since protecting you, m'lady, is its own reward!" Chitoge opened her mouth to speak, but Seishirou sensed what she was about to say and added, "And don't even _think _about offering to pay for it. I wouldn't dare take any of m'lady's money!"

Chitoge sighed and placed her chin in the palm of her left hand as she sighed and replied, "Oh well, it was a nice idea while it lasted…"

Before Chitoge could continue moping, a knock was heard from the other side of her bedroom door. A lofty voice belonging to none other than Claude called from the other side, "Are you all decent?"

"Yes!" Chitoge called in reply, "Come on in!"

At those words the doors opened, and on the other side was the lanky figure that was Claude. Dressed in his usual pristine white suit, he brought his right index and middle fingers to the bridge of his thin glasses and pushed them ever so slightly upwards before entering. He strutted in and stopped himself several feet short of Chitoge's masterful bed that currently housed a certain master assassin. He bowed out of courtesy and respect before rising and inquiring, "So, how's my boy doing?"

Seishirou and Chitoge both visibly cringed at the word 'boy', and were reminded of Claude's ever so prominent density towards Seishirou's gender, but dismissed it and went on.

Seishirou sighed and replied, "I'm fine, thanks for worrying."

Chitoge turned to Claude with a smile and replied, "We were just talking about vacations and how much Seishirou deserves one."

"M'lady!" Seishirou exclaimed as she turned to Chitoge with a blush painting her face.

Claude was still for a moment, but began to chuckle ever so slightly before bursting into full on laughter, his silver locks rustling as he shook his head with laughter. Intrigued and slightly disturbed by Claude's outburst, Chitoge uneasily inquired, "Wh-What's so funny, Claude?"

As Claude calmed his laughter, he replied between intermittent bursts of chuckling, "Well, it's just that fortune has benefitted us in this situation, more than you could ever think of!"

"How so?" Seishirou inquired as she leaned in close from her sitting position.

Claude chuckled again before adjusting his glasses and reaching into his suit jacket. He rummaged around in his jacket for several seconds before he produced a small black ball and displayed it proudly in the palm of his hand. The two girls stared at it blankly for a minute or so while Claude gazed down at them with a gloating smile.

"A black ball…" Chitoge deadpanned as she examined it from all angles, "so you won a street lottery or something?"

"Not just _a _street lottery," Claude corrected as he placed the black ball on the bedsheets, "Miss Watanabe's street lottery." The two girls exchanged blank looks and returned their gaze to Claude, eliciting a sigh from him, and he further elucidated, "Miss Watanabe's Week and a Half Long Getaway Lottery?"

Suddenly, the two girls' eyes lit up as they returned their gazes back to the little black ball as Claude went on in that hallmark aloof tone of his, "Yes, Miss Watanabe's famous Week and a Half Long Getaway that only comes around once every year. It includes a luxurious trip to Osaka, where you'll stay at the famed Hotel Monterey, and explore Osaka for the entire week until Saturday when you'll leave Osaka and depart to Hakuba-mara, where you'll top the whole experience off with skiing and a relaxing stay at a cabin in the mountains!" Claude adjusted his glasses yet again, and the rays of sunlight that peered into the room caught on the lenses, creating a sort of flare effect as he finished, "Oh, and it's all expense paid, of course."

"And…you're giving this to me?" Seishirou inquired as she picked up the black ball.

"Consider it my gift to you for your continued service." Claude replied eloquently.

"A vacation!" Chitoge exclaimed, "This'll be so great for you!"

"Yes…I suppose…" Seishirou replied, "But, will you be fine here?"

"Oh, don't worry about me," Chitoge replied, "the only other person here to worry about is that Bean Sprout of mine, and I can deal with him no problem…" Chitoge finished that sentence with an evil grin beginning to crawl up her face.

"If you insist…" Seishirou replied, reluctantly clutching the black ball in her hand.

"Yay! This is fantastic!" Chitoge happily exclaimed as she shot up out of her chair, "I'll go get your bags so we can start packing!"

"Packing?" Seishirou nervously replied as Chitoge rushed out of the room before anyone could stop her. Seishirou heaved a heavy sigh before Claude interrupted her and said,

"Between you and me, there's something I neglected to tell you." catching Seishirou's attention, Claude continued, "There was another winner."

"Eh?!" Seishirou exclaimed in disbelief, leaning further in to listen to Claude's words.

"You see, the trip is planned as a trip for two," Claude explained as he pulled up Chitoge's chair, "so, in order for the vacation to be valid, two people have to win. That's how Miss Watanabe can afford to keep running the contest year after year, since there's such a low probability of one person finding the black ball among those dozens of white balls, let alone two."

"So I'm gonna have to spend this trip…" Seishirou began, "with another person?"

"You don't _have to_," Claude replied, alleviating some stress from Seishirou's shoulders, yet she still perpetuated that frown of hers as Claude continued, "it's merely recommended since you both are on the same trip."

Seishirou shrugged and replied, "I'll just see who my counterpart is and if I don't like them I'll just-"

"Although I would normally advocate murderous actions, I must condemn them," Claude droned, "if only this once."

"And why?" Seishirou inquired, a pouty expression painting her face.

"It would not only ruin your reputation, but Miss Watanabe's as well." Claude replied, "And apparently it's _'immoral' _to defile someone's good name on the behalf of a third party."

Seishirou frowned, rolled her eyes, and droned, "Fine. If I don't like them, I'll just ditch them. Happy?"

"Yes. Thank you." Claude replied, the faintest of smiles dancing upon his lips. Seishirou shrugged in reply, then was called down by the oh so familiar call of her blonde friend, Chitoge.

"Hey, Seishirou! Come help me pack your bags already!"

"Coming! Coming!" Seishirou responded as she threw her covers aside and rushed out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Claude leaned back in his chair and smiled broadly at the good deed he had just performed, but then sighed as he wondered out loud, "Come to think of it, who _is _that second person…?" Claude dwelled on this thought for a while before straightening back up and telling himself, "Ah, whatever…probably nobody important anyways…"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The day of Seishirou's departure was one of great clamor about the Beehive mansion. Some were crying tears of joy, some were crying tears of sorrow, and some were crying tears of fear due to the fact that their sacred guardian would be temporarily gone.

Ignoring the distress of the other members of the gang, Seishirou was escorted by Claude and Chitoge to the airport where she bid a tear-filled farewell to Chitoge and a respectful (but disdainful) farewell to Claude.

Nippon International Airport was a rather large airport facility, rivaling O'Hare in size, and in number of flights. If there was one place to go in Japan, it was none other than the imposing, concrete gray building that was Nippon Airlines. Upon entering the building one would find themselves in the vast, open expanse that was the main lobby. Here there were several teller's booths, similar to those one would see in an old-time movie theater, except these were cerulean, where one would obtain their flight tickets, whether they had them on reserve, or they decided to buy one on the spur of the moment. This was also the place where people entered and exited flights, as Seishirou could tell rather well by the gaggle of people flooding out of the exit gates, all speaking in many different languages, none of which Seishirou recognized rather well.

_'Damn,' _she thought to herself, _'I knew I should've brushed up on my foreign languages before I left…' _while still spiting herself, Seishirou continued to look around the airport.

She noticed there were also several pay phones over to the left and right that were bland except for the fact that they were decorated with Nippon Airline's insignia, a white airplane with a Japanese flag on its side inside of a black circle. After Seishirou obtained her ticket from an amicable blonde teller that Seishirou thought was making suggestive advances on her, she passed the metal turnstile that led to the next hallway; luggage and extraneous. This hallway was lined to the brim on either side with stores of all shapes and sizes. There were clothing stores from all brands, some that Seishirou recognized from the time that she had spent in America, such as American Eagle and Hollister. There were some other small convenience stores that had various pieces of carry-on equipment, such as soap, deodorant, shampoo. Other stores sold food of all different varieties, many of which Seishirou longed to try, but knew she could never afford. However, no matter what the store was, they all shared a common denominator; big, annoying signs out front that blared advertisements for sales on whatever for 25-35% off one place and 50-60% off the next. However, Seishirou was more enraptured by the food than anything, as she gazed on at the lineup, silently weeping at the fact that she may never enjoy a candlelit dinner at the classy restaurant _'Vacaro's', _enjoying its fine dishes, which were rumored to be the best in all of Japan, while enjoying the company of the Raku-

Seishirou instantly shook her head from side to side, then relieved her hands from her luggage and covered her extremely flushed face using them, somehow not drawing the attention of the various patrons that wandered about her. _'What was I doing just now?!' _Seishirou thought, _'I was just thinking of having a romantic evening with…' _the mere thought of his name sent a chill throughout her body, _'Raku Ichijo…' _

Indeed, Seishirou couldn't deny that she was thinking of a romantic evening at a table at _Vacaro's_ with Raku. Seishirou imagined herself dressed in a sea foam blue dress that displayed an embarrassingly ample amount of cleavage, and was tight on her body, exposing every single curve. However, Seishirou's eyes were more drawn in this fantasy to the man sitting across from her than they were to her own exposed body. Raku was unusually well dressed, donned in a stunningly sleek, slimming, jet black tuxedo. He wore a cravat as well, but that was tucked away firmly, and only plumed out just near the collar on his dress shirt that jutted out above his suit jacket. His purplish-black hair was just as feathery and raggedy as ever, and he still wore that 'X' accessory on his left side, but Seishirou didn't mind, she found it rather alluring. He was wearing a rose corsage about his right breast pocket, but he plucked it from his pocket with his right hand and gave it to Seishirou, who became instantly more flushed than she was at this action. "Begrudgingly accepting it," as Seishirou so fervently put it, she placed it in her hair, to which Raku remarked in that calm and reassuring tone of his,

"Wow, that looks _really beautiful_ on you!" as he flashed Seishirou a smile. Seishirou instantly snapped her neck to turn away from Raku and the table which was adorned with fine delicacies such as lobster, sushi, egg roles, and more. The delectable aroma of which wafted about one's nostrils and filled your entire body with a sensation of euphoria unparalleled by any other confection upon this Earth. A delectation one could only imagine without experiencing it first hand. As the music being played by the string quartet in the background slowly crescendoed, Raku leaned over the table, being careful enough to lean over the candelabra that was between them, and Seishirou followed suit. The two violins became sharper, the viola became more overbearing, and the cello intensified in tone and depth as the two's faces neared ever closer. Seishirou knew what was coming next, and she readied her lips as her and Raku's faces were mere centimeters apart.

Seishirou snapped back to reality, and hoped that she hadn't made much of a scene with all that private gushing she had just done. She grabbed her jet black suitcases and rolled them along the linoleum, silently ashamed, but also curious as to what exactly it was she was feeling.

Seishirou arrived safely at the luggage claim, and filled out the necessary paperwork as she handed her luggage off to another bodacious female, a redhead this time (which Seishirou found unusual for Japan, and assumed her of another nationality), who made suspicious advances on her as well.

"Jeez," Seishirou mumbled to herself as she passed through the luggage area, "what's with all the girls today? Is it something in the water?" Dismissing the inquiry Seishirou advanced to the security check area.

After a rather thorough security screening and body check (from which they retrieved and confiscated 2 pistols, 1 revolver, 3 grenades of various design and purpose, 5 knifes (2 full length, 3 designed for throwing), and 6 other various throwing implements/lethal weapons), it was determined that it was "safe" to let her aboard. With her jet black suitcases safe in the luggage compartment of the plane, Seishirou boarded the plane.

She noticed the interior had rather high clearance, and the carpeting was much more classier than she had expected. However, Seishirou didn't have much time to mire at the interior, as was instantly greeted by a stewardess. She was about Seishirou's height with black, shoulder-length hair, deep blue eyes, a slim waist, ample chest (not anywhere near Seishirou's caliber, mind you, but ample enough to make a note of), and sported a shining smile. Her stewardess uniform complemented her figure quite well; a dark blue women's blazer with a white undershirt and a matching, short, tight pencil skirt.

Flashing that grin in Seishirou's direction, she said, "Hello, and welcome to Nippon Airlines. I'm Kiyomi Takata, and I'll be your stewardess today!"

"H-Hi," Seishirou shakily replied, nearly overwhelmed by this woman's confidence, "I'm here on Miss Watanabe's Giveaway and I heard there was a special seating division for me?"

"Ah, yes, right this way ma'am!" Kiyomi beamed.

Seishirou began to follow, but then stopped Kiyomi in her tracks and inquired, "You can tell I'm a woman?"

"Of course!" Kiyomi confidently replied, "Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that!"

_'I can think of someone with two that can't…' _Seishirou thought to herself, but subsequently dismissed that thought train and followed Kiyomi. They passed through 2nd class where practically everything was a creme color, including the chairs and carpet among other things. However, the instant they entered 1st class, a change overcame the atmosphere. As opposed to the clamor and raucous nature of 2nd class, 1st class was calm and reserved. People were seated quietly in their seats either doing work, listening to music, on their laptop computers, or silently playing games such as Shogi or Chess on the tables provided for them. The few children that were there were busy talking to their parents in polite and hushed tones while other played Shiritori or games akin to that. Kiyomi guided her further into first class until they reached an area with a track for a sturdy curtain. Kiyomi guided Seishirou to her window seat, and then unlatched the curtain behind her, beginning to close it as she explained, "This is the private section. These curtains are solid, so no one will bother you like this. Also, if you ever need anything, the button to call for an attendant is directly above you." Kiyomi pointed above Seishirou's head to a red button with an icon of a woman on it. "I hope you find your stay pleasurable and the other winner should be arriving soon."

"Other winner?" Seishirou inquired before remembering the fact that she had a counterpart on this excursion.

"Yes," Kiyomi replied, "I met with him earlier, he's a very nice guy. And cute, too! I wonder if he has a girlfriend…" Kiyomi gushed as Seishirou watched on. Kiyomi took note of this and inquired, "What about you, do you have anyone special in particular?"

Seishirou tensed up at the question, and shot back, "N-No! What makes you think that?!"

"Well, you're really cute!" Kiyomi replied, catching Seishirou visibly off-guard, "I think any guy would be lucky to have you!"

Seishirou felt the all to familiar heat of embarrassment begin to creep up her face. She gazed down at her rather modest outfit; a simple light blue blouse with tight khaki's that accentuated and complimented her natural curves extremely well. "Th-Th-Thank you…" Seishirou nervously responded as Kiyomi closed the curtain behind her, leaving Seishirou to her thoughts.

_'Jeez, the nerve of her…' _Seishirou fumed to herself. She turned her head to face the window and gazed out at the airport terminal. She watched as busboys and stewardesses alike rushed from plane to plane, carrying suitcases of all shapes and sizes and escorting passengers of all ages and heights. Eventually getting over the whole ordeal with Kiyomi, Seishirou thought to herself, _'Well, at least there won't be much to worry about at home. I left a bunch of pre-cooked meals for Paula at my apartment, and Claude said he'll keep an eye on my chores about the mansion and keep up my apartment…' _Seishirou's eyes wandered to the other end of the airport, the runways, where she saw people in golf-carts frantically driving about, making preparations for take-off. _'In fact,' _Seishirou continued as she watched two men in a golf-cart have a near collision with two other men who were carrying a cart full of luggage and exchange vulgar gestures,_ 'the only thing that I'm truly concerned about is m'lady, and she's fairly self-sufficient herself. She can cook well if given proper instruction, and she's not bad at house work. Really, the only thing that I have to worry about in her life is-' _Seishirou felt her chest tighten up all of a sudden as her thoughts wandered to the one boy she couldn't get over, no matter how hard she tried, _'Raku Ichijo…' _Her thoughts flashed to her first encounter with Raku, and the fierce death match that had led them to a rather amorous situation, and how he restrained himself well and proper in that locker where he first told her,

_"That's such a shame; you're so cute…" _and ignited this hurricane of emotions that she felt whenever she was near him.

She then recalled when she hurt her ankle while they were doing some shopping for the class pets, and he carried her piggyback and told her,

_"I wonder what your face will look like the first time you fall in love. Man, I can't wait to see that!" _as he looked back and saw Seishirou's fully flushed face.

And Seishirou certainly couldn't forget about the time when they were locked in the sports equipment room where he said,

_"You've gotten a lot cuter ever since you came to Japan! Yeah, that's it!" _further cementing these feelings in Seishirou's heart.

She remembered all the times she had helped Raku with his homework, and how terrible he was at math before Seishirou began explaining it to him. She recalled all the study groups she had attended at his house. There had been multiple times that it had ended up as just the two of them alone, and they had compromised position more than once in those times. Raku always brushed it off, and Seishirou felt hopeless the first time until she began noticing that every time it happened, Raku's face was just the slightest bit flushed afterwards, as well.

She recalled the time she gave him what she called "obligatory chocolate" on Valentine's Day, and how he told her he would treasure it as the first candy he ever received from a girl. The rush of emotion she felt after that put her over the top and above Cloud 9 for the rest of that week. She hardly knew how to react on White Day when Raku took the courtesy to repay her tenfold for the gift with a handmade scarf (which she actually had in one of her suitcases right now).

She also began to think about all the times she had ended up in an amorous situation with him after one of Claude's discarded Beehive gadgets had put them in it. From the explosive handcuffs that brought them to where they were in alone in a park together (Seishirou ending up shirtless in this whole ordeal) to the Love Gummis that fully awakened whatever Seishirou was feeling, she remembered it all.

As much as she tried to suppress these occurrences, she noticed one recurring trend among each one of them; Raku's politeness.

By and by Raku never acted like any other despicable man (Shuu) who would try to take advantage of her in those situations; he treated her like a proper woman and always put her before himself in anything he did involving her.

_'Why does he do that, huh?' _Seishirou thought, placing her hands on her cheeks, which were currently flushed with a deep red blush, _'Act so nicely when he should be m'lady's boyfriend! That idiot…' _Seishirou felt a familiar heat overtake her body as she thought, _'But come to think of it,' _Seishirou felt her chest began to tense up, and her heart begin to pound incessantly, _'why don't I mind it…?' _Seishirou's heartbeat was through the roof by now, and she went on to think, _'Is he really even m'lady's boyfriend in the first place? They fight far too much to be considered a regular couple…' _Seishirou's entire body was engulfed by the heat as she went on to ponder, _'So if Raku Ichijo really isn't m'lady's boyfriend…does that mean I have what they call a 'chance'…?'_ Seishirou furiously shook her head from side to side in a futile attempt to deny what she knew was the truth. After a few minutes of this, Seishirou heaved a heavy sigh and told herself, _'It's no use…I just have to face the facts…' _Seishirou leaned her head back and gazed up at the ceiling as she thought to herself, _'I'm….in lo-'_

"Excuse me ma'am," a somewhat familiar voice called from behind her, "is the seat next to you taken?"

Seishirou turned from her window view and began to reply, "No, go ahead and-" before realizing who she was talking to.

There, standing before Seishirou, stood an all too familiar figure. A figure that would send Seishirou on a roller coaster that she never saw coming. The tall, dark-and-messy-haired (wearing that X accessory on his left side as always), purple-eyed boy who was dressed in a pair of white and blue striped shorts with a white v-neck t-shirt took a step back as he stuttered out, "S-Seishirou?!"

"Raku…" Seishirou began as she gazed on at the astonished boy, "Ichijo…?!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: WOW, that was more fan than I had imagined! I can't wait to continue writing more of this!_

_I hope you all enjoyed it and don't forget to follow this story/write a review/favorite it so that you can keep track of it and show it appreciation! _

_Thanks for reading, have a great day/week/month/year of your life, and I'll see you in the next chapter!_


	2. The Flight

_A/N: Everyone, thank you so much for all the support you've shown on this fiction so far! I think we'll get along marvelously!_

_I should also mention this here:_

_I'm having Seishirou be called 'Seishirou' instead of 'Tsugumi' because I'm going by American naming customs. This should also elucidate on the topic of why I had Seishirou call Raku 'Raku Ichijo' instead of 'Ichijo Raku'. _

_I hope that clears up any confusion that there is. _

_Now, here we go!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

There, standing before Seishirou, stood an all too familiar figure. A figure that would send Seishirou on a roller coaster that she never saw coming. The tall, dark-and-messy-haired (wearing that X accessory on his left side as always), purple-eyed boy who was dressed in a pair of white and blue striped shorts with a white v-neck t-shirt took a step back as he stuttered out, "S-Seishirou?!"

"Raku…" Seishirou began as she gazed on at the astonished boy, "Ichijo…?!"

Raku leaned on the armrest of one of the two seats adjacent from the two seats on Seishirou's side with his right hand, nearly falling back into the seat in the process as he stuttered, "Wh-What are you doing here?!"

Seishirou felt a furious blush begin to overcome her, but she faced Raku nonetheless and shot back, "_You're_ the other winner?!"

Raku felt a sudden chill overcome him as he responded, "Miss Watanabe's-"

"Week and half long Giveaway…" Seishirou finished, her cheeks now flushed a deep maroon.

Not noticing Seishirou's blush, Raku and Seishirou just stared one another in the eye for a little while, time suspend between them.

_'N-No way…' _Raku thought to himself, _'I'm on vacation with…Seishirou?' _Raku took a moment to observe Seishirou's rather modest outfit, and Seishirou's enrapturing beauty as well. _'Has she always been this…cute?' _Raku thought as he noticed Seishirou's lips quiver the slightest.

_'Impossible…' _Seishirou thought at that same time, _'I'm stuck with…Raku?'_ Seishirou took a moment to give Raku a once over herself, and her eyes couldn't believe themselves. Seishirou had very rarely seen Raku outside of his usual black trousers and jacket school uniform, so this was a rare opportunity. She noticed his well-defined collarbones that jutted out from his chest thanks to his v-neck shirt, and how surprisingly well-defined his leg muscles were thanks to his shorts. _'Has he always been this…handsome?'_

The two both opened their mouths to speak at the exact same time, but as they did, a small beep was heard over the plane's PA system, and a perky voice that the two recognized as Kiyomi boomed:

**"Attention passengers, thanks bunches for flying Nippon Airlines! We'll be departing soon, our destination is Kansai National Airport! So, if you haven't already, secure your luggage and take your seats! Attendants will be around in a few hours to see that everything is going well for you. That's all!"**

As the announcement ended, Raku made eye contact with Seishirou, which caused both of their faces to become flushed instantly. A silence hung in the air between them, but Raku broke it as he inquired, "Uh…so…do you-"

"Just take it!" Seishirou interrupted as she shot her gaze down towards her lap, her face steaming with embarrassment.

Raku cocked his head to the side and inquired, "Eh?"

"The seat!" Seishirou replied, still facing her lap, "You said you wanted to sit there, so-"

"Oh, thanks!" Raku replied with a smile. Seishirou felt her body temperature skyrocket as Raku slowly sat down in the cushy leather seat.

_'Jeez, what's with her?' _Raku thought as he cast a glance at Seishirou, who had diverted her gaze from the lap and now had it focused out the window, _'She's been acting more out of it than even Chitoge…but…' _Raku gave Seishirou a once over, and was stunned yet again at how well she could beautify herself, even in simple clothing like a blouse and khakis, _'it really is cute…' _ Raku shook his head slightly, and thought, _'What the hell am I thinking?! I must really be out of it today…'_

At that very same moment, Seishirou was gazing out the window, her face flushed a hue of red she had never seen before, and thought, _'You've got to be kidding me_. _I've got to spend this vacation with…him?!' _Seishirou then realized something. _'Wait, I don't have to…I can just ditch him when we land…' _Seishirou smirked to herself, even though she couldn't deny the blush that still painted her face, _'Yeah, that's what I'll do. Just ditch him and-'_

"So," Raku began, interrupting Seishirou's thought train and instantly causing her whip her head around and divert her gaze to Raku, "how'd you end up winning?"

"Huh?" Seishirou inquired, her nerves eased at the sound of Raku's voice.

"Well," Raku responded as he turned to Seishirou, "you're great at a lot of things; school, shooting, sports, and math, which I know from experience."

"A little _too much experience_, at that." Seishirou added with a small smile on her face.

Raku cracked up at that, which caused Seishirou to laugh as well. As they calmed down, Raku said, "However, despite everything that you're great at, games of chance were never your thing."

"Hey, that's not true!" Seishirou shot back, a blush creeping up her face at the compliments she had recently received from Raku.

"Oh really?" Raku cockily replied. He placed his right fist vertically in the open palm of his left hand and inquired, "Care for Rock, Paper, Scissors?"

Seishirou wasn't about to turn down a challenge, and imitated the same position. They pounded their palms thrice as they said,

"Rock, Paper, Scissors…"

then shouted,

"Shoot!" in unison.

Raku played paper, Seishirou had played rock. Raku removed his open right hand from the grasp of his left hand, and covered Seishirou's still balled-up fist with it. Seishirou was immediately overcome with a blush as Raku's hand made contact with hers as he smugly said, "I win."

Seishirou couldn't care less about her loss, however, and merely focused on the feeling of Raku's hand on hers. _'It's…warm.' _Seishirou thought to herself, _'His hand is much larger than mine, but, it's nice. I feel…safe…' _caught in her own euphoria, Seishirou continued to mire at Raku's hand and think, _'What is this bizarre feeling?…I feel like I could stay here forever…what is this emotion? Is this what they told me about? Is this what's called…l-…lo-"_

"Uh, Seishirou?" Raku interrupted, snapping Seishirou back to reality, "I can understand you being hung up on your loss, but, is something else going on?"

Seishirou quickly realized what she was doing, and withdrew her hand from Raku's as she said, "N-No! Absolutely nothing!"

"Oh…ok…" Raku replied, a little unsure of what just happened. "Anyways, case in point, your terrible at chance games like that," Raku explained, "so how did you end up winning Miss Watanabe's?"

"I-If you must know," Seishirou defiantly began, "it was given to me by someone else."

"Oh really?" Raku inquired, "Who?"

"It was a joint gift from M'lady and Mr. Claude." Seishirou replied.

"Wow, I'm surprised by their generosity." Raku replied, astonished at the fact.

After a few second's silence, Seishirou took the initiative to inquired, "So, how did _you_ end up winning?"

Raku jumped at the inquiry, but sighed, and replied, "It was a week or so ago, I was walking downtown on my way back to school when I saw Miss Watanabe's. I was curious, so I just went over, paid my 100 yen, and I won, just like that. I've always had a knack for things like that."

_'"Just like that" he says…' _Seishirou thought to herself, _'And here I struggle to even win one of those bottle games at the street carnival…' _

"You know, if you wanted," Raku said as he turned to Seishirou, "I could teach you some of the tricks of the trade." Raku flashed a playful smile, which calmed Seishirou significantly.

_'Why is it that only happens when I'm with him, huh?' _Seishirou thought as she kept up her smile, _'No matter who else I'm with, I never feel as calm as I do when I'm with him…' _Seishirou gave Raku a once over as he raced up into the luggage compartment above them and produced a black laptop case. _'I guess he does clean up well…' _

Raku sat down and unzipped the laptop case, then pulled out a surprisingly pristine black and red-lined laptop. Raku popped the latch on the pull out table in the wall in front of his seat, extended the black desk, and placed his laptop on it.

"You're into PCs?" Seishirou inquired.

Raku opened up the laptop, and the screen slowly flickered to life. "Kinda," Raku replied, turning to Seishirou while the computer booted up, "what about you?"

"I know a little bit." Seishirou replied. "Mr. Claude just told me that I should be able to disassemble and reassemble any model of computer and rewrite any operating system known to man, so I probably don't know as much as you would think."

_'"Just"?!' _Raku thought while nodding his head nonchalantly.

"But anyways," Seishirou began, "that still doesn't explain why you have it with you now."

"Oh, well, I normally don't bring my laptop along on vacations," Raku replied, "but I figured I could make an exception in this instance due to this vacation's magnitude."

"That's…surprisingly smart, thinking ahead like that." Seishirou remarked, fascinated about this new side of Raku she was learning about.

_'Am I normally dumb?' _A somewhat morose Raku thought.

"Well, thank you." Raku replied, "That means a lot, coming from you."

Seishirou felt her chest tighten up, and she felt her face heat up with that obscurely familiar heat from that emotion she had yet to identify. "R-Really?" she inquired.

"Oh, definitely." Raku replied, "You're so mature and responsible yourself. I really do admire that about you."

Seishirou was unsure what would happen first: the plane reaching its destination or her passing out from heart failure. She tried her best to calm down, but her saving grace came when the plane engaged lift off. The duo felt the plane jerk forward slightly as it accelerated down the runway before eventually lifting off and beginning flight.

Several minutes post-lift off, Kiyomi's voice came over the PA again:

**"Attention passengers, Kiyomi Takata here again, thank you again for flying Nippon Airlines! Our destination is Kansai National Airport in the Osaka Prefecture! If at any time you require assistance, don't hesitate to push the service button directly above your head. Emergency equipment is also located in the hatch in that area as well. Thank you again for flying Nippon Airline and we hope you have a fantastic trip!"**

As Kiyomi hung up, Raku and Seishirou shared a nervous giggle as Raku stated, "She's certainly…"

"Bubbly?" Seishirou said.

"Couldn't've said it better myself." Raku replied with a smile. It was at that moment that Seishirou noticed what was on Raku's laptop screen. It was a picture of her, Raku, and the rest of their friends at the beach from last summer. Seishirou was dressed in that skimpy two-piece bikini of hers that barely covered her nether regions, and Raku was dressed in white and black striped swim shorts. Over in the far right hand corner of the background, one could spot Ruri beating up Shuu underneath a beach towel, and to Raku's immediate left, Chitoge stood, striking a pose, almost as if she was trying to steal the spotlight from Raku with her multi-colored striped bikini. And finally, to Chitoge's left, there stood Kosaki Onodera, whose attention wasn't directed at the camera, but instead, in the direction of Raku. Seishirou wasn't sure, but it looked as thought there was a blush painting Kosaki's cheeks. However, what Seishirou noticed next sent her beyond Cloud Nine. In the picture, Raku had his arm around Seishirou, and was looking over at her with what Seishirou determined as amour in his eyes.

Raku noticed her gazing at the desktop background, and inquired, "You like this picture, eh?"

Seishirou was at a loss for words, but somehow managed to stammer out, "D-Depends…do you like it…?"

"Of course!" Raku replied as he gazed on at the picture, "This picture is _very _important to me. More than you could ever know." he said as he gazed on at it.

_'Of course it's because Onodera's staring at me,' _Raku thought to himself, _'but she doesn't have to know that.'_

This was all almost more than Seishirou's poor heart could handle, and as the heat of embarrassment engulfed her yet again, she did something rather hasty. "S-Say, Raku-" she began sheepishly before she was interrupted by the sound of the curtain behind them being slid open. The duo simultaneously looked to see Kiyomi Takata, just as cheery as ever.

"Hey y'all!" Kiyomi beamed as she slid the curtain shut, "Just thought I'd come and-"

"Um, sorry," Raku interrupted, "hold on a second, please." he then turned to Seishirou and inquired, "Seishirou, you were saying?"

After a moment's silence, Seishirou replied, "N-Nothing, i-it's nothing…" as she shot her gaze down to her lap yet again.

Raku cocked his head out of curiosity, but replied, "If you say so…" as he turned to Kiyomi and said, "Sorry about the interruption, what was it you were saying?"

"Oh that's fine!" Kiyomi replied, a smile adorning her face, "And I just came to check and see how y'all are doing."

"Oh, we're doing great, thanks for asking!" Raku replied, infectious cheeriness in his voice.

"Well that's great!" Kiyomi responded. "Oh, and, we're accepting orders for dinner now. Now, y'all already have your dinner planned out for you thanks to Miss Watanabe, but I have no idea what you want for dessert."

Raku furrowed his brow for a moment, then turned to Seishirou and inquired, "Well, what do _you _want, Seishirou?"

"Eh?!" A surprised and flustered Seishirou shot back, "You're asking _me_?!"

"Of course." Raku firmly replied, "It's 'ladies first', right? So go ahead, and I'll just have whatever you pick."

_'L-Ladies?!' _Seishirou thought as she gazed on at Raku, _'He sees me as…a lady?!' _

"Is what you're thinking of _that _good?" Raku inquired.

"Huh?" Seishirou inquired, cocking her head to the side.

Raku responded by reaching out his hand, with his thumb extended. Placing his thumb on the right corner of Seishirou's mouth, he ran it from corner to corner of her bottom lip, barely grazing it, and then retracted his hand as he replied, "You were…drooling…"

After tense silence between the trio, Raku broke it by inquiring, "So…what is it that you wanted, again?"

"Uh…yes…" Seishirou began, still overwhelmed by the hurricane of emotions, "I'll have a strawberry milkshake with just a dash of banana, but-"

"Not too much," Raku chimed in as the two locked eyes and finished the sentence in unison,

"_Because the banana would overpower the strawberry_…"

The two held the eye contact with each other for a moment, neither saying a word. The tension that hung between them bore no peer, and neither of the two parties involved wanted to say anything, for neither wanted to see the ending of this fantasia.

However, the outsider, Kiyomi, was more than willing to interrupt them, as she giggled and stated, "My my, miss; I thought you said you didn't have a special someone."

Seishirou snapped out of it and replied, "I-I don't."

"Of course you do!" Kiyomi replied with a smile, then gestured to Raku as she continued, "He's right here!"

The duo locked eyes and they both donned an intense blush.

"S-special…" Raku said as he continued to gaze at Seishirou.

"Someone…" Seishirou finished as she too gazed on at her counterpart.

Kiyomi giggled at the situation she had just created, and then said, "Ah well, I'll submit this order and it should be out for you soon!" Kiyomi then cast a wink in the two's direction and skipped off.

Seishirou and Raku nervously giggled in unison, then returned their attention to their respective tasks. Seishirou returned her glance to her window as her thoughts ran wild with things such as, _'Unbelievable! We share the same tastes?! And we look like a couple?! What the hell is going on?!'_

Meanwhile, Raku refocused his attention on the blank Microdoc Word document on his screen. _'Jeez, what was that all about, anyways…' _Raku thought, _'A couple…Seishirou and I…well, I guess I wouldn't mind it that much-__**DIE!**__' _as Raku thought that, he slammed his head against the keyboard of his laptop, grasping the corners of the table to allow himself a modicum of support. However, the impact of his head on the keys had caused him to type the first characters on the paper, even if they were just:

**hypija;oiaf**

Seishirou noticed this, and inquired, "Something wrong?"

"Uh, kinda…" Raku replied, "Say, can I ask you something completely random with a guarantee that you won't hit me or anything?"

"…No promises." Seishirou said as she averted her eyes from Raku so that she wouldn't redden due to the adorability of his face when he was unsure of something.

"Great. Listen," Raku began, "I know I'm probably not your favorite person in the world, but…" Raku hesitated momentarily as he stiffened up, as if to brace himself, "Look, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to get along for a week and a half. So, do you want to travel together?"

Seishirou's heart was beating at 1000000 beats per minute (or at least felt like it was), and she glanced over to an unsure Raku who was nervously twirling his hair. Doing her best to conceal the blush that now adorned her face, she replied, "W-Well, if you put it like that…I suppose I have no choice."

_'What did I just say?' _Seishirou thought to herself in disbelief.

"Excellent!" an overjoyed Raku exclaimed. He turned to Seishirou and said, "You might not like this, but…"

"Like wha-" Seishirou began before being interrupted by Raku embracing her.

"Thank you, really." Raku said. "I'm beyond happy that I get to travel with you."

Seishirou wanted to attempt a response, but knew it would only come out in garbled up nonsense. Raku did always have that knack for impairing Seishirou's speech. Seishirou figured that she should just deal with it, and return the embrace…who knows when she'd get this chance next. _'Why do I get so worked up by stuff like this, huh? And it's only with him…' _As Seishirou inhaled, she couldn't help but notice something. _'Wow…he smells…divine. It's sweet, like fruit or flowers…'_

However, as Seishirou thought this, Raku was thinking, _'Well, I guess it'll be nice to have her around. She can keep me motivated and protect me if something happens, I hope…' _However, aromatic charm wasn't something just Raku possessed. Raku found this out as he inhaled a whiff of Seishirou's hair, and thought, _'Wow…she smells like…lilies. I always did like lilies…' _

The two soon realized how long they were holding one another for, Seishirou before Raku, and she quickly shoved Raku away, only realizing what she had done after she did it.

_'There I go again,' _Seishirou thought to herself, _'pushing him away when I know I want him near for some reason. What am I gonna do when he finally gets mad while we're together, or-'_ Seishirou interrupted her thought train when she heard the sound of Raku's laughter.

She turned to him in time to hear him say, "There you go again with that, eh? Well, I wouldn't expect any less. In fact, I'm actually pretty used to it now, so, no big deal."

"Y-You don't mind?" Seishirou inquired, thoroughly amazed.

"Not at all." Raku replied with an earnest smile, "In fact, I don't think that you'd be you if you didn't do stuff like that occasionally."

_'This guy…' _was all Seishirou could think, _'This amazing guy…'_

"Oh, but, something that I've noticed," Seishirou began as she pointed to Raku's practically blank document, "you still haven't made any progress on that itinerary of yours."

Raku hung his head low and replied, "Yeah…" he then felt a lightbulb light up in his head, and he turned to Seishirou as he stated, "I've been doing it wrong, that's why…"

"Pardon?" Seishirou replied as she scooted back slightly.

Raku responded by reaching over her and popping the latch on the table in front of her, then transferring the laptop from his desk to hers. As he set the computer down, he stated, "What kind of guy would I be if I just chose everything according to what I wanted to do?" He turned to Seishirou and flashed a smile as continued, "You go ahead and pick out what you want to do."

"E-…_Eh?!_" Seishirou exclaimed.

"C'mon, it'll be fine." Raku reassured as he patted Seishirou on the shoulder. "You'll be fine. Just plan whatever you want based off of whatever you can find online, and I'll happily go along with whatever you say."

"B-But-" Seishirou began.

"Have some self-confidence." Raku interrupted before flashing a final smile and then donning his bright green headphones and leaning back, leaving a flustered Seishirou to mull her thoughts over as she began to type out their agenda.

Seishirou spent a surprising amount of time on the agenda. She worked through it even through the chicken dinner that was brought to them about an hour or so after Raku handed off the laptop to her. She hardly touched her meal, and they ended up sending a good 2/3 of it back when Kiyomi came back to collect their plates. However, after a long while, Seishirou finally completed it. And just in time for dessert as well.

As Raku took the laptop from Seishirou he closed it up at Kiyomi's request so that the table would be clear for the milkshake. Raku promised he would look over the itinerary later though.

As Kiyomi came back with the milkshake in a classic 40's style, ornate glass, Seishirou and Raku knew something was up. Kiyomi sat it on the table, then extended the table a little more so that it could be between the two evenly. She then put in two red straws that were bent to resemble separate halves of a heart. She plopped the straws in, aligned them to create the heart, and then said, "Have fun~!" before dashing off.

The duo stared intently at the stared at the milkshake, neither moving an inch in its direction. Seishirou attempted to just divert her gaze towards the window, as did Raku, however, it was all to no avail.

Finally, after a few minutes, Raku sighed and said, "Look, they went to the trouble of making this for us, right?"

Seishirou dismissed the rather sensual thought train she was on at that moment, and replied a shaky, "Y-Yeah, so?"

"There's no reason we should just throw away their hospitality like that." Raku stated as he looked back at the milkshake. He leaned into it and claimed the left straw as his own, bringing his lips to it, and taking a long swig of the chilly beverage. The enrapturing icy ting it sent throughout his body was one he wouldn't soon forget, and as he drew back, he shivered slightly as he remarked, "Delicious!" as Seishirou looked on. Noticing this, Raku grabbed her arm and tugged her over to the shake.

After another minute's hesitation, Seishirou reluctantly closed her eyes, leaned into the shake, and took a long, refreshing sip. _'Well,' _she thought, _'I will admit, it's really good…' _in the few seconds that she spent on that sip, her mind ran wild with everything that had happened on this plane ride so far; the hugs, the compliments, the everything. All of it exploded in Seishirou's head at a rapid pace that she could barely even keep up with. _'I don't know how much more my poor heart can take from this damn guy…I don't know much about this kind of stuff, but isn't this something couples normally do? I think I saw this in a movie somewhere in America…Oh, if this goes on, I'll-' _Seishirou was interrupted by what happened next. It was something that she never expected in a million years…she felt the soft and gentle touch of Raku's nose on hers.

Her eyes shot open, and she realized that she must've leaned in for a drink at the same time as Raku. They drew back at the same time, and that's when their noses made contact.

The duo said nothing to one another; silence was becoming rather redundant, but it was all they could do in these situations. Their faces were mere centimeters apart, they could feel one another's gentle breathing on their faces. Seishirou's face had been painted a whole new hue of maroon blush, and Raku's cheeks had gone somewhat rosy as well.

Raku was the one to break the silence as he said, "S-Sorry. I didn't realize-"

Seishirou opened her mouth to respond with some choice words that she wasn't sure would contradict or align with her thoughts at that moment, but she was interrupted by Kiyomi over the PA again as she said:

**"Attention passengers; night is upon us, so it would be wise for you to think about knocking off for today! Blankets are stored in the compartment beneath your seat, and more blankets or accommodations are available upon request! Thanks for flying Nippon Airlines!"**

As Kiyomi hung up, Raku unsteadily stated, "We should…rest up…"

"…Yeah…" Seishirou unconfidently replied as she reached down beneath her seat and opened the compartment beneath. In one swift motion she pulled the baby blue blanket out, slammed the compartment shut, threw the blanket on her, and spun around to face the window as she deadpanned, "Good night."

"Y-Yeah." Raku replied as he too obtained his blanket, "Good night…" as he laid the seat back slightly, he tried to sleep not facing Seishirou, but his thoughts wouldn't cease to pester him. _'Well, I did it this time, huh?' _He thought as gazed onwards at Seishirou's sleeping body, _'I'll be lucky if I wake up tomorrow morning…' _Raku then remembered the tender touch of Seishirou's nose, and he brought the tips of his index and middle finger to the tip of his nose as he thought, _'Come to think of it…it wasn't that bad…' _Raku then shook his head slightly and thought, _'Idiot! Remember, your goal is Onodera, right?! RIGHT?!' _Raku wrestled with these thoughts all night.

**Several Hours Later…**

Seishirou tossed and turned, unable to relieve her mind of the events of this plane ride. Those same thoughts had manifested themselves into her sleeping conscious, and had resulted in a rather…erotic dream.

_"Yo, Seishirou…Blondie's gone, and there's no one else here. Tonight it's just you, and me…"_

_"Raku you moron! What about Miss Onodera, Marika Tachibana, and-?"_

_"Fie on all them! I only have eyes for you Seishirou…"_

_"Raku…"_

_"Seishirou…"_

"Hmmm…Raku Ichijo…" Seishirou moaned as she slowly roused herself awake, "You're so…forward…" Seishirou realized several things from the moment she began to regain consciousness. One: Night was still upon them. The plane was still rather dark, save for one ceiling light that hung above the walkway between seats. And two: she wasn't in her original position. If she was, she'd currently be seeing the landscape beneath her, and be grasping the seat beneath her, not seeing a thin cotton blend and grasping what felt like a person's arm. Seishirou felt the color drain from her face as she realized where she was; she had somehow crawled over next to Raku, and was currently resting her head on his side, and grasping his arm. Overwhelmed by this fact, but unable to leave the position for some reason, she shrieked a piercing shriek that would've surely woken up the rest of the plane had it not been for the soundproofing provided by the curtain behind them.

Raku would've bolted out of his seat had it not been for Seishirou maintaining her death grip on him. He picked his head up slightly as he exclaimed, "**SEISHIROU, **_**NO!**_" and glanced over to where Seishirou should've been. He then realized where she actually was and looked her dead in the eyes as he said, "What's wrong?! Did something scare you?!"

_'He's so…' _Seishirou thought, her body still heated by the embarrassment she currently felt, _'concerned about me…'_

"I-I'm fine…" Seishirou said, misty-eyed. "But, aren't you curious about why I'm here?"

Raku then felt reality wash over him as he realized Seishirou's current position. His cheeks were flushed instantly, and he stuttered, "Ha-Ha ha, yeah, maybe I am a little curious about that…"

Seishirou's mind raced as she tried to determine a plausible excuse. "Um…just a…bad dream."

_'Well great,' _Seishirou thought, _'there's no way he's gonna believe-'_

Seishirou was interrupted by Raku sighing as he said, "I guess it can't be helped…"

"Huh?" Seishirou inquired as she looked up at Raku, "What do you-" before Seishirou could finish that sentence, Raku threw his arms around Seishirou and clung to her tightly. He could feel the intense heat emanating from her due to her embarrassment, but Raku just wrote it off as her natural heat. Seishirou was so flustered, all she could manage was, "H-Hey, w-w-wha-"

"What kind of guy would I be if I left a girl who had a bad dream all alone?" Raku replied, "Just go to sleep, y-you need to be rested up for tomorrow, right?"

Seishirou looked on at Raku, still amazed at how he managed to make her swoon like this every time she was around him. However, she was tired, and had no time for arguing with herself. So she buried her head in Raku's chest and said, "Yeah…g-good night…"

"Good night." Raku replied a smooth tone that resonated in Seishirou's head and lulled her to sleep with its melodic capabilities.

_'This overwhelming feeling…' _Seishirou thought as she drifted off, _'This sense of security…is it just like I thought? Am I really…in…l-…lo-…' _Seishirou drifted off to sleep, right as she was about to finish that sentence. The next thing she knew, she was waking up in the same position, Raku still holding her tightly with a determined expression on his face, and Kiyomi announcing over the PA:

**"Attention passengers! We have arrived at Kansai National Airport!"**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: So they finally arrived at Osaka! What's to come in next week's chapter when they begin their excursion? Will Seishirou ever learn to be honest with herself? _

_Thanks for reading! If you liked the story, please write a review/favorite it/follow it to keep up to date with it!_

_As always, I hope you have a great day/week/month/year of your life, and until next time… _

_See ya!_


	3. Kansai International Airport

_A/N: Jeez Louise this chapter took me long enough… _

_I'm sincerely sorry that this took so long, but I had final exams, and I had to set aside all things that weren't school so that I wouldn't fail and disappoint my family, yadda yadda, blah blah, you get the picture._

_Anyways, so let's just cut my jabber and get on with the sweetness eh? I can feel the blood rushing to my nose as I type this…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Kansai International Airport (or _Kankū _as it's colloquially known)'s size basically made it O'Hare's little brother. Built on an artificial island 2.5 miles long, 1.6 miles wide, and boasting not only one of the finest airports in the world, but also the longest concourse in the world (located on the 3rd floor), 5 floors (Seishirou and Raku arrived on the top floor), Aeroplaza (which includes a car rental service, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses), an incineration plant, a sewage disposal plant, a uniquely curved airfoil rooftop, the Sky Gate Bridge, and more interesting things of the like.

Because of the fact that the duo arrived late at night, they were more than drowsy, and were more than ready to make it to their hotel. As they rode the automatic walkway down the interminable concourse, bags in tow, the duo took a moment to mire at the fine internal architecture. The sprawling hallway was lined to the brim with all sorts of stores and services. Some sold clothes, some sold maps, other sold food of all different kinds from all walks of life, and others were mere novelty stores where other travelers would purchase little trinkets to prove they had been where they'd been, or purchase a disposable camera to take some photos.

The windows that overlooked the sprawling runways were framed over with metal bars and beams that were in the shape of an 'X' with other smaller beams behind them to offer another layer of protection. Alongside the automatic sidewalk, there were rows upon rows of vibrantly yellow seats; 24 to each row (12 on the right, 12 on the left with two groups of 6 back to back with one another).

"Jeez," Raku remarked as he looked about him once more at the bustling airport, "I heard Kansai was big, but I didn't realize it was this big…"

"I've been here once or twice before on a mission, but it always seems to take my breath away." Seishirou added as she looked out at the flights that still continued to enter and depart, guided by the red and green lights that peppered the runways.

Seishirou turned her head to Raku in time to see him cup his hand over his mouth and roll his shoulders as he uttered a stifled yawn. She made a mental comment about how cute that was, but stowed it away as she said to him, "You're tired to, eh?"

"Kinda." Raku replied, "I'll just be glad when we get to our hotel." Raku raised an eyebrow as he added, "Come to think of it, where _is _our hotel?"

Seishirou produced the duo's travel voucher from her pocket and responded, "It's some place called the '_Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka'_."

"Sounds ritzy." Raku commented as he watched a mother and father surprise their daughter with a box of macarons.

"It is." Seishirou replied, "It's an internationally recognized 5-star hotel. It's owned and operated by the Kazu family, who pride themselves on delivering the utmost in the best service." Seishirou glossed over several of the photos of the hotel's interior, and couldn't help but feel her heart pound at the notion of sharing a hotel room with Raku.

_'Be still my beating heart,' _she commanded herself, _'it's not like anything…erotic…is going to happen…right?' _a mental image of her and Raku in each other's steamy embrace under the fine linens of their suite momentarily ran through her head, but she straightened herself out in time to hear Raku say,

"Hey, listen…" as he looked about the crowd.

Seishirou lent the crowd her ear, and she was overcome with the flurry of voices and tones that filled the room. She turned her head to Raku as she inquired, "What exactly am I listening for?"

"Oh, well, I was just thinking about all the different languages here." Raku commented as he glanced about the crowd.

"Languages?" Seishirou replied. Indeed, now that she took another listen, she heard all sorts of tongues and dialects. From French, English, and German to Italian, Spanish, and even a little Russian. "Wow…that's very observant of you, Raku Ichijo." Seishirou remarked.

"Huh? Really?" Raku inquired, a small blush tinting his cheeks. He then distracted from his embarrassment to inquire of Seishirou, "Hey, out of curiosity, how many languages do you speak?"

Seishirou stiffened up at that inquiry. Raku took note of this and said, "What's wrong?" Raku let out a small gasp and placed his left hand on Seishirou's right shoulder as he went on to say, "Was it something I said? Should I not have asked that?"

Seishirou jumped at Raku's touch, and instinctually elbowed Raku in the gut, eliciting a small grunt from him, as she replied, "N-No…it's not that you shouldn't have asked…"

"Then, what is it?" Raku responded as he bruised for a moment over his gut.

After a few moments, Seishirou said, "I…I only speak…_Japanese_" Seishirou meekly replied.

"Hm?" Raku inquired as he placed his left index finger on his left ear, signifying that he didn't hear her.

"I said, I only speak…Japanese…" Seishirou uttered a small squeal that was several octaves higher than anything Raku had ever heard out of her before.

"Wh-What?!" A shocked Raku exclaimed, his exclamation muffled underneath the bustle and hustle of the rest of the crowd.

Seishirou dealt Raku a punch to his arm and replied, "Sh-Shut up!"

As Raku rolled his left shoulder, he commented, "I must say, I'm surprised. I would've thought you would know more languages, what with all the missions you go on."

"W-Well, I did learn a _little _English for a mission in America a few years back," Seishirou sheepishly said, "but I forgot it long ago." Raku nodded his head at that as Seishirou added, "Although, I can still read English pretty well."

"Really…?" Raku slyly inquired. Seishirou cocked her head as Raku got down on one knee, his backpack jingling and rustling as he did so, and rummaged around in one of the front pockets of his suitcase for a minute. From it, he produced a pen and a small notepad with a blue cover. He zipped up his bag, then got up, and flipped open to a random page in the notepad. He scribbled the pen on the page for a few seconds, then tucked it away in his pocket and flipped the notepad in Seishirou's direction. Written on it in plain English were the words:

**"Hello, how are you today?"**

Seishirou stiffened as she intensely stared at the characters on the pad. Her mind raced to remember what they all meant, but she came up with nothing. Just as she was about to break down, Raku read off, in perfect English,

"_Hello, how are you today?_" with a smile on his face.

Seishirou was on the verge of dying of embarrassment as she inquired, "How did you-"

"I travel with my old man to America every year to stay at our cabin on Lake Michigan." Raku explained as he tucked the notepad away in his shorts pocket. "Not only am I fluent in English, I know a lot of the slang, too."

"Michigan?" Seishirou inquired.

Raku held up his right hand and pointed to it as he said, "It's the state that's shaped like a mitten, remember?"

Seishirou snapped her fingers at that and said, "Oh yeah! I used that trick to remember it too!"

The duo chuckled as Raku said, "I also remember it because Michigan sounds like mitten or _mitten _in English."

As the pair continued talking, Seishirou thought to herself, _'Wow, he's surprisingly witty…' _as they shared another laugh, Seishirou added, _'And somehow, he always manages to make me laugh and smile…'_ as they reached the end of the walkway, they hurried over into a surprisingly empty elevator.

The interior was solid creme and eggshell white, and there was subtle classical music playing as they began their descent.

Raku glanced at his watch and said, "Good, we should make it just on time for the shuttle."

"I wish they paid for us to rent a car…" Seishirou griped, her face flushing at the momentary image she had of her and Raku in a sleek black convertible, Raku donned in slimming leather and her in a skimpy top and shorts as they rushed down the streets in classic devil-may-care fashion.

"It'd be nice, but neither of us has a license." Raku remarked as he leaned up against the elevator's back wall.

"Well," Seishirou began as she fiddled around in her pocket for her wallet, then pulled it out and unfolded the fine leather piece and revealed several licenses and IDs, "_we _don't, but Izuki Takahara _does_."

Raku leaned in and examined all of the false licenses and IDs. All of them bore photos of Seishirou dressed up various male attire. _'Of course…Izuki Takahara, Nakamori Furuya, Himuro Shun…they're all guy's names…'_

Raku cleared his throat and said, "Well, as much of a good idea that is, we can't afford it, so we'll just leave that be…'

_'And leave me out of prison!' _Raku added in his head.

Seishirou frowned but reluctantly stowed her wallet and heaved a sigh as she leaned up next to Raku and heaved a tired sigh.

Raku chuckled at the unusual exhibition of weakness from the girl who he had always seen as strong and infallible.

However, little did Raku know that that sigh was one of embarrassment and anxiousness behind the guise of tiredness. _'Alone in an elevator with Raku Ichijo…' _Seishirou thought to herself, _'When couples are in elevators, don't they normally…' _Seishirou became engulfed in her own private fantasy for a few minutes. A fantasy where Raku leaped from his perch, slammed Seishirou up against the wall by her shoulders, and slowly stroked her down her arms until he reached her firm, curvy hips. As his hands began to tread further back towards Seishirou's rear, and his lips nearing hers, Seishirou snapped out of her trance and instinctually swung a right hook at Raku. Raku received the full force of it to his gut, and keeled over as he hacked violently. Seishirou realized what she had done, and took a few steps back from Raku, unable to utter any words. _'Why do I always do that?' _Seishirou thought, _'Every time he tries to do something nice or casual I retaliate with violence…I hit him, kick him, hell, if I had my weapons, I would've shot at him by now. I'm really such an-'_ Seishirou's thought train was interrupted by a stifled laugh from Raku. As he rose up from his keeled over position, it was revealed that an earnest smile danced upon his lips (a little blood did as well, but that's another story).

"R-Raku…?" Seishirou stammered out, confused as to what was going on.

As Raku continued to laugh, he said through sporadic hacks, "It's fine!" with a broad smile on his face, "In fact, I'm glad you're still like that."

"Like 'that'?" Seishirou inquired as she cocked her head out of confusion.

"You've still got your own way of doing things, like how you hit me for no apparent reason." Raku said as he leaned back up against the wall, "I'll admit, you do go over the top, but, I really like that about you." He said as he flashed another smile at Seishirou, "In fact, I can't imagine you not being like that."

Seishirou was hit with a tidal wave of emotion, and her face donned a whole new hue of red. As she looked on at Raku, she thought, _'This guy…' _a small smile crossed her lips as she managed to say, "Thank you, Raku…I'm glad that you think that…"

As Raku saw Seishirou's honest smile, he too obtained a severe blush. "H-Hey, did you always smile like that?" a flustered Raku inquired.

"H-Huh? What do you mean?" Seishirou responded, equally as flustered as her counterpart.

_'That's right,' _Seishirou thought, _'it's because you're always like this that I-' _

Seishirou was cut short as the elevator came to a stop with a resounding 'Ding!' and the doors opened to reveal that they had arrived at the ground level parking garage. Cars of all makes, models, and years littered the parking spaces of the concrete building, and several meters away were a few benches and a large sign that read:

**'SHUTTLE STOP' **

in Japanese, English, French, German, and several other languages.

Raku's eyes lit up as he laid eyes on the stop, and he exclaimed, "Ha ha! Our ticket to our hotel is right there!" he turned to Seishirou who had also perked up significantly and grabbed her by her left hand as he said to her, "C'mon, let's go!"

"Wh-Wh-Whoa! Wait!" Seishirou replied, flustered and burning up with the heat of embarrassment, "Raku!" she wailed as the two dashed on towards the stop.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Ok, so I realize this chapter is far shorter than others, but it's only that way because of the exams that I've been through, and the fact that I knew you guys were starving for a new chapter, so I rushed this out._

_I now have a lot more time on my hands, so expect new chapters at a far more frequent rate than every 10+ days. _

_As always, if you enjoyed this chapter, be sure to leave a review/favorite the story/follow the story. If you don't that's fine, I still love you all from the bottom of my heart!_

_Have a great day/week/month/year of your life, and I'll see you all soon!_


	4. Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka, Part 1

_A/N: There's not much to say for this A/N, other than that fact that I'm still finding time to write these, you all are very important to me._

_My schedule has been fairly chaotic the past week or so, but I've finally cleared it up, and I'm going set the schedule here and now:_

_Once weekly, I'll publish these. I can't guarantee their length, but I'll most definitely work it out so that once every week (unless specified) you'll get a chapter. _

_Again, thanks for bearing with me, and let's get on with this._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka was as creme of the crop as they come. The place wanted for nothing as far as accommodations go.

Polished spruce banisters and stairs that were lacquered every hour on the hour so they wouldn't become unsightly, oak walling in certain areas to allow a nature-esque feel, authentic mahogany tables outlined with quartz and decorated with breathtaking pink flowers in the lobby, benches of the same high-quality mahogany with cushions fluffier than a cloud, and diamond chandeliers that exuded class in the suites.

As the couple entered the surprisingly empty lobby through the crystal clear glass door they saw the flooring was a fine, gray tile that was cloudy for a nice aesthetic touch. The walls were a coarse light gray stone, layered horizontally, except for one wall off to the east that was covered in eggshell white wallpaper with light brown streaks. There was a section of the wall that was concave in about 4 feet or so (15 feet long), and there was a polished black desk that spanned the length, and was lit with somewhat dimmed track lights. In the center of the room there was a tall black column that pierced the ceiling and floor, and to its immediate right was the reception desk. It was equally as black, save for a small section on the front that was comprised of a light chestnut colored wood. In back was the area for the receptionists. It was decorated with three paintings, each depicting a different scene.

The one furthest left was one that Raku recognized from his trips to America as Washington crossing the Delaware River. The one in the middle depicted a green hill during summer with a large, sturdy maple tree atop it. And the one furthest to the right was one that Seishirou recognized as Nicholas Copernicus in a jet black European garb. To the immediate right of the reception desk was a small corridor that led to the elevators.

However, there was one thing missing from the reception desk: the receptionists themselves.

Raku and Seishirou dropped their luggage next to the column and began to look around. Raku cast glances all over, even beyond the lobby to the entrance into the hallways to the ground floors, and he still saw no one. Seishirou wandered about as well, checking the area for breakfast, and even wandering into said aforementioned hallways.

"See anything?" Raku inquired of Seishirou as they reconvened at the column.

"No, nothing." Seishirou replied with a sigh, running her fingers through her dark blue locks. "Honestly, what kind of hotel gets five stars when it has a neglectful staff like this?"

"I don't know. Maybe we just got here to late." Raku cast a glance at his watch and said, "It is almost past midnight after all."

"If it was closed they wouldn't leave the doors unlocked and the lights on, now would they?" Seishirou retorted as she leaned up against the column.

"I guess not…" Raku replied as he leaned up next to Seishirou close enough that their shoulders touched one another.

While Raku didn't make too much of a fuss about this fact and simply went on to mutter, "Now where haven't we checked…" Seishirou was burning up.

_'What the hell does this guy think he's doing, huh?' _Seishirou thought to herself, _'It's just one thing after another with him.' _Seishirou watched as Raku ran his hand through his feathery, purple locks, somehow rustling them up more than they were already. Seishirou couldn't help but feel that familiar heat intensify at the sight of a flustered Raku, and she took this opportunity to try something. _'I-It can't hurt, can it?' _ Seishirou thought as she leaned her full body weight against Raku's left side.

Raku took notice of this and shot a glance over to Seishirou as he inquired, "E-Eh?!"

"D-Don't get the wrong idea!" Seishirou shot back, an intense blush painting her cheeks, "I'm just worn out, it's been a long day!"

"A-Ah…gotcha…" Raku uneasily replied as he adjusted his posture to provide some more comfort to Seishirou.

_'What's with her?' _Raku thought as Seishirou increased her leaning pressure on Raku, applying her full body weight, and bringing the side of one of her sizable breasts into contact with Raku's left arm. Raku did his best not to tense up at this, and thought, _'And this on top of it all?! Today is not my day…' _However, Raku couldn't deny the pleasure he felt at this very moment. He allowed his eyes to momentarily drift to Seishirou's chest and thought, _'I never really noticed it, since the other girls usually make fun of them, but they really are big…You can notice them pretty well, even through that blouse…' _Indeed Raku couldn't deny the girth of Seishirou's full mound as it pressed against Raku's arm, grinding against it slightly every now and again due to Seishirou shifting position.

Silently squealing, Seishirou thought to herself, _'What am I doing? What am I doing? What the hell am I doing?! I'm pretty sure that's his arm on my-' _Seishirou gulped as she realized just what she was doing, and clenched her left fist, ready to sock Raku one good when a yawn was heard from behind the receptionist desk.

The duo rose from their leaning posture to investigate, and as they walked closer to the desk, someone rose up from a sleeping posture.

He was a young man, approximately 21 if Raku had to take a guess. As he stood up, his age was evident from his height, he stood a full head above Raku. He had wavy indigo hair that was parted to the man's right (Raku's left), and dusted the tips of his ears and eyebrows. He had no visible facial hair, and had equally indigo eyes to match. He exuded youthful exuberance and wore a hotel outfit, which consisted of a tight, sleek, white dress shirt underneath a jet black suit vest with 4 golden buttons and a pair of equally slimming black trousers held up by a tight belt with a golden buckle. Given this hotel's stature, it wouldn't be too much to assume that the buttons and belt buckle weren't just gold-plated.

His voice was just as chipper as he, even if it was tainted with drowsiness, as he muttered, "That's the _last_ time I sleep behind the receptionist desk without a pillow…"

_'Implying you'll do it again?!' _Raku silently retorted to himself as he spoke up and inquired, "Um, excuse me?"

The man perked up and replied, "Oh, yes, welcome!" with a newly ignited fire in his eyes. "Welcome to the Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka, do you have a reservation?"

"Y-yeah…" Raku replied, uneasy due to this man's brimming confidence, "I'm Raku Ichijo and this is Seishirou Tsugumi," Raku said as he gestured to Seishirou to his left, "nice to meet you."

"A pleasure Master Raku and Mistress Seishirou!" The indigo-haired man replied.

_'Another one who can tell I'm a woman…' _Seishirou mused to herself.

"You should have us on file," Raku said, "we're the winners of Miss Watanabe's contest."

"Is that so?" The indigo-haired man inquired. "Well, if that's the case, then I'll need to have my brothers run you through verification and get you checked in."

"Wait, can't you just do that?" Seishirou inquired, obviously confused.

"Ah, not really." The indigo-haired man shrugged. He struck a thumbs up pose and stated, "I'm just here to greet people!"

_'Hopeless…' _Raku and Seishirou thought in unison.

"You see, I normally have my brothers here with me," The indigo-haired man explained, "I handle greetings while they check people in and get them the keys to their room." He glanced at the elevators and said, "However, they're currently handling a small problem right now concerning a couple of girls and-" he tensed up and continued, "Well, they should be back any second now!" as he turned to the couple with a broader smile than before.

_'Just exactly what was he going to say…?' _A severely shaken Raku thought.

As the indigo-haired man finished that sentence the elevator let out a resounding, electronic 'ding!' noise, and the doors slid open to reveal two men in receptionist outfits who were in the middle of a rather intense conversation.

The man on Raku's left was shorter than the man on Raku's right, but taller than the indigo-haired man at the desk by a few inches. He appeared to be about 22, and had short red hair in the style of a faux hawk. He had a certain air about him that made him seem more mature than the man at the desk, but still more immature than the man on Raku's right.

The man on Raku's right wore thin, frameless glasses, and had long green hair that was parted to his right, and grazed his shoulders. He gave off an air of elegance and seniority, and appeared to be about 23. He was clearly the tallest of the group, towering a full head and shoulders above Raku, and a full head above the indigo-haired man.

"Dude," the red-haired man said, his tone rough but kiddish, as the two began walking out of the elevator, "how did they get it all the way up on the ceiling?"

The green-haired man cupped his hands around his face and rubbed his temples with the tips of his index and middle fingers as he replied in a stressed but debonair tone, "I don't know…"

"I mean," the red-haired man began, "I didn't think that was even possible for two girls-" he cut himself short when he saw Raku and Seishirou.

The green-haired man shot him a deadly glare as he lowered his hands back to his side and said, "Forgive my brother here, and, if it hasn't been offered to you already, please accept our apologies for this small inconvenience."

As he took a deep bow, Raku waved his hands in front of him and said, "O-Oh, no, it's fine, really!" The man rose up to his original posture as Raku inquired, "I take it your this guy's brothers?" as he gestured to the indigo-haired man.

"Yes, that's right." The green-haired man replied, "Us three are actually the only employees at this hotel."

"_Huh?!_" Raku and Seishirou exclaimed in disbelief.

The indigo-haired man chuckled and deftly hurdled himself over the receptionist desk, sticking the landing as he rose up next to the red-haired man and said, "I'm Ichinose Kazu, the youngest of the Kazu siblings! I keep people smiling and handle all the food!"

The red-haired man grinned as well and crossed his arms as he said, "The name's Nijo Kazu, the middle of the Kazu siblings! I mainly handle reception and room service!"

The green-haired man placed his right elbow in the palm of his left hand and used his right middle finger to adjust his glasses by their bridge and declared, "I'm Sanpei Kazu, the eldest of the Kazu siblings! I make sure everything's spick, span, and in perfect working order!"

"Wait a minute," Raku said, waving his hands in front of himself, "your names are Ichinose, Nijo, and Sanpei?"

"Yes, that's correct." Sanpei replied.

"And you're the Kazu brothers?" Raku went on to inquire.

"Sure are!" Nijo replied.

"_Ichi_nose, _Ni_jo, _San_pei…" Raku mumbled to himself, silently laughing.

"Something wrong there, Master Raku?" Ichinose inquired.

"It's nothing, really." Raku replied, stifling a laugh. Seishirou attempted to discern what he was laughing about, but failed to come up with anything. "Anyways," Raku said, clearing his throat, "we're here on Miss Watanabe's contest, and we were wondering if you could check us in?"

"Ah, so _you're_ the two 'miracles' Miss Watanabe called to us about…" Nijo mused as he walked behind the desk and started tapping away at the computer.

"'Miracles'?" Seishirou scoffed.

"Well, whatever," Nijo responded, "just be happy you won, eh?" he gave the duo a once over and remarked, "You know, you two look remarkably like a couple."

The pair were instantly flushed, unable to do anything but stammer and grow stiffer by the second.

"Indeed, I must concur with Nijo on this one." Sanpei declared, "Are you two perhaps engaged?"

The two exchanged flustered stammers as Ichinose chimed in, "Oooh! Maybe they're newlyweds and it was destiny that led them to honeymoon here!"

"An abnormally brilliant deduction from you, Ichinose!" Sanpei remarked.

"It wasn't 'brilliant' at all!" Raku exclaimed, his words falling on deaf ears.

"Well whatever they are, they're booked in the Presidential Suite. The Penthouse on top of the building, Floor 31." Nijo declared as he pulled a pair of keycards in an envelope from beneath the desk. He hurdled over the desk and tossed the cards to Raku as he lamented, "Can't remember the last time we rented that place out."

"I hope it hasn't gone _too _downhill…" Ichinose chimed in.

"Oi…are you insinuating that my cleaning abilities would permit that…?" Sanpei ominously boomed over his siblings, obtaining a presence comparable to that of an imposing demon.

As the grouped laughed at these antics, Nijo caught a glimpse of Raku and Seishirou's luggage and declared, "Luggage! Leave it to me!"

"N-N-No! Wait!" Seishirou exclaimed, remembering the scarf among other precious things in her suitcase.

Raku grabbed her by her hand and calmly reassured, "Don't worry, I'm sure Nijo can be trusted with these things." as he flashed her a smile that melted her to the core.

"Hey Sanpei, Ichinose," Nijo cooed, "how many of these suitcases do you think I can balance on my fingertips?"

"If you want to live: _**none**_." Sanpei firmly responded, readjusting his glasses.

"I would've said 3!" Ichinose chimed in.

"I wouldn't have allowed any!" Seishirou slyly snapped, her words unheard by the trio of siblings.

"Anyways, you two go check out your suite, elevator'll take you right there!" Nijo said as he gestured to the elevator. "Us 3'll register your luggage then I'll bring it up to ya soon as can be!"

"Sounds great!" Raku replied as he began to trod towards the elevator. "C'mon, Seishirou!

Seishirou began to follow, but instead took a second to pull the trio of siblings aside while Raku called the elevator and inquired, "Um…l-listen…you're all here to help us, right?"

"But of course." Sanpei confidently replied.

"Th-Then, can I ask you all something?" A quaky Seishirou began.

"What's up, little lady?" Nijo responded, toying around with one of Raku's smaller suitcases.

_'This is ludicrous,' _Seishirou thought, _'what could they possibly tell me that everyone else hasn't?'_

"What does it mean when-" Seishirou gulped in an attempt to quell her blush and continued, "when you're around someone, and your heart gets all tense and starts beating rapidly," she said as she clenched her chest, "and you start shaking furiously, but at the same time, you feel…relieved that they're there?"

The Kazu siblings huddled up for a few seconds and conferred upon this inquiry, and Sanpei was the one to deliver their response. "It sounds to us like the classic symptoms of lo-"

"**DON'T SAY IT!**" Seishirou exclaimed, the blush now covering every inch of her body that it could as she drilled Sanpei in the gut with her right fist.

Sanpei keeled over as Raku called back to Seishirou, "Oi, Seishirou! The elevator's here! Let's go!"

"Y-Yes…Raku…" Seishirou sheepishly replied as she scurried over to the elevator.

As Sanpei hacked away, Nijo and Ichinose patted him on the back as Ichinose lamented with a sigh, "Isn't teenage love a beautiful thing?"

"Indeed it is my brother," Nijo concurred, "indeed it is…"

"Yes…" Sanpei chimed in between hacks, "However, it's not so peachy from the perspective of someone who _**can't breathe**_!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Cutting this one short again in the interest of time. However, next week we'll finish up with the Monterey Grasmere and maybe even get on to the first day of their trip!_

_Until then, please write a review/favorite the story/follow it to keep up with updates!_

_Once again, we are now on a weekly schedule, so keep in mind to check back often!_

_Have a great day/week/month/year of your life, and I'll see you in the next chapter! _


	5. Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka, Part 2

_A/N: WHAT'S THIS?! A NEW CHAPTER SO SOON?!_

_I told you guys I'd keep up a weekly schedule, and I wasn't lying! Hehehe…_

_So, Seishirou and Raku have made it to the Hotel, met the Kazu brothers (I'm glad you guys like them so much. Oh, and Nijo wanted me to tell you guys about some bet he wants to make concerning him being able to fit 30 grapes in his mouth or something like that. I don't know…), and are now on their way to their room!_

_What escapades await them in the private company of just the two of them in a swanky hotel room? Let's find out, shall we?_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Presidential Suite Penthouse didn't do this fabulous room justice. Seldom rented out, but still in sterling condition, it was the Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka's pride and joy. Sanpei spent a minimum of one hour in this room every day, regardless of if it was housing tenants or not, to keep it as prim and proper as possible.

As Raku and Seishirou's elevator reached the roof, they were greeted by a small entry room where they could remove their shoes and don slippers instead. From there, there was a sturdy and polished wooden door with an electronic card lock. It also had a keypad for entering a 4 digit numerical code. Raku produced one of two keycards from the paper envelope with the hotel's crest on it (a blossoming tree with three thin leaves on its right (Raku's left) and two other thin leaves on its left side (Raku's right)) on which was scribbled a small note:

**"Swipe the keycard first before entering the passcode, or else you'll be locked out for 20 minutes. The passcode to the room is '1111'. Yes, I know…next time, don't let Ichinose pick the passcode…"**

**- Sanpei**

After a small chuckle over Sanpei's self-loathing, the couple entered the room to be greeted by a grandiose sight indeed.

The door lead to a small hallway that included two separate but identical bathrooms (one on the left and one on the right). The flooring of the bathrooms was smooth stones of all shapes and sizes, and to one's immediate left, there was a combination sink and dresser, elevated approximately 0.3 meters off the ground. It housed two sinks made of finely polished porcelain, two cabinets (one under each sink), and two smaller drawers in the middle. The countertop was a gorgeous granite and the silver faucets glistened from being so well polished. In the middle of this all was a ring for a towel, and a single lantern dangled above, right in front of two sparkling mirrors that were accented by lovely track lighting. In the back left hand corner, there was a circular stone bath built into the wall with a small step to use to climb into it. Next to the bath was a large oak wardrobe that housed several bathrobes and towels. To the wardrobe's immediate right was the walk-in shower, closed off by smoggy glass that was just barely opaque.

Past the hallway was the room itself. Even though Raku and Seishirou had been told of its splendor at the check-in, they weren't prepared for what they were seeing. Cloud soft brown-and-gray carpeting patterned in a small checkerboard design covered the whole area, perfectly complimenting the rest of the furniture. Over in the corner there was a large gray couch that covered the entire western wall and extended slightly to form a sort of 'E' shape. The couch was decorated with many small pillows, no two of which were alike in their floral designs, and in the middle of the couch area was a circular black marble table with several scratches on that Seishirou and Raku presumed to be artistic in nature. Just beyond where the couch ended on the norther wall was a finely lacquered up mahogany desk that was decorated by a trophy-esque desk lamp with an ornate black lampshade that all the other lamps in the room seemed to share, and a small notepad and fountain pen. Tucked away in the right corner was a comfortable-looking chair that was the same color gray as the sofa, right next to which was a tall lamp, and in front of which was a circular white footstool. On the eastern wall were the beds. The beds were both king size, adorned with lavish dark and light green striped blankets, creme white pillows that were oh so inviting after the day the couple had been through, one eggshell white and forest green striped each (that was currently laid horizontally), and a valance above each, whose curtains were eggshell white and forest green trimmed with tassels on the end. The bed's frames were made of ebony wood of the darkest hue possible. Next to each bed was a mahogany nightstand with a small lamp and a notepad. In between the two bed was a medium sized dresser with a solid white phone and a booklet that read 'PHONE BOOK' in all capital letters. And above all this, a glistening diamond chandelier.

But the feature that caught Seishirou's eye the most was what lied beyond the northern wall. There was a large sliding glass door that was bordered by several smaller windows on each side. To confirm what she thought it was, Seishirou trod on towards it. Pushing aside the curtains that covered it, she slid it open to reveal a balcony. The balcony extended several meters out, was floored with the same ebony wood used for the beds, and was rather barren, save for a lone set of chairs in the right corner. However, decorations couldn't matter less to Seishirou, what mattered to her now was the view.

As the night breeze gently wafted through her hair she gazed over the city skyline. The whole city was peppered with lights of all shapes and colors, buildings of the same nature, and seemed almost divided by the two prominent highways that ran through its center. A seemingly infinite amount of cars darted back and forth, to and fro, round about and up and down the sprawling metropolis, each one having its own destination and its own unique purpose for said destination. In the distance, a small mountain range could be seen, the peaks scraping and tearing through the clouds that painted the beautifully blue night sky. To anyone else during the day, this would seem like the average hustle and bustle of a Prefecture like Osaka. But something about the night made it all seem more…alive, to Seishirou at least. She felt that if she just so much as extended her arm far enough, she could trace the snowy peaks with her own fingertips, or pluck a car from the orange-lit highways and streets. Or perhaps even pick one of the hundreds of lights out there and cradle it as her own. The possibilities seemed limitless.

It was Raku who interrupted Seishirou's euphoria by sliding the sliding glass door shut and interjecting, "Brr! It's freezing out here!"

Shaken from her trance, Seishirou replied, "Hm?"

"I was just saying how cold it was out here." Raku reiterated, "How are you ok in that blouse and khakis?"

"Oh, I don't know." Seishirou shrugged, returning her attention to the skyline as she remarked, "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Eh?" Raku inquired as he leaned his back against the railing and looked sideways at Seishirou.

"Isn't the city skyline just…beautiful…?" Seishirou wistfully said, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly.

Raku turned around, gave the city a once over and responded, "Well, yeah, of course it is."

Seishirou chuckled at Raku's ignorance, then turned to him and said, "You know, I've always had a thing for skylines."

"Oh?" Raku replied with a small chuckle.

"I've been all over the world," Seishirou began, returning her attention to the city, "America, Brazil, France, England, Germany, Russia, all of them have their beautiful sights and equally beautiful people." As the breeze picked up, Seishirou continued, "But one thing always remained the most beautiful above them all; the skyline." An unusually feminine chuckle slipped past Seishirou's lips as she went on to say, "I guess I like the idea of seeing everything and everyone before me. The idea of all those people, and what they're doing right now…where they're going, what their story is…it's something I've never been able to find anywhere else…"

Raku turned his full attention to Seishirou, and saw something he never expected. The sight of Seishirou gazing wistfully out at the world, the wind subtly rippling her clothes and hair, and the wonderfully raw emotion in her bottomless eyes, it all led Raku to say, "Yeah…" Seishirou turned herself to Raku in time for him to lock eyes with her and say, "You really are beautiful…"

There was a silence that hung in the air that was only filled by the whistling of the air. As the silence built, so did the blush on Seishirou's cheeks.

_'N-No way…' _Seishirou thought, _'He just said I was…beautiful…'_

_'Did I just…' _Raku thought to himself, gaining a blush of his own, _'I did…I called her beautiful…but the weird thing is, I felt like-no, I meant it!'_

"Wh-wh-wha-" Seishirou stammered out, the blush permeating every fiber of her skin.

Raku was about to say something, but an idea popped into his head. He ran his right hand through his feathery locks, fraying them up to create a sexy, almost disheveled look. Flashing a seductive smile, he advanced towards Seishirou. Raku made a swift motion, locked hands with Seishirou, then spun her around tango-style, and caught her in a dance-style drop while one of Seishirou's legs was in the air, and one on the ground. Raku held Seishirou up with only his left arm, while his right arm was straight back, and was now holding a rose that Raku seemed to have pulled out of nowhere but upon closer examination Seishirou realized that Raku had pulled it from the vase in-between the two chairs. Raku slid the rose across his lips, then placed it in his mouth and said, "_Enchante_."

Seishirou held her position, awestruck at Raku's spontaneous action, hopeless to do anything but simply gaze into Raku's mesmerizing stare. His eyes were lit with a passion like Seishirou had ever seen before, and she could feel it as well. As she gazed into Raku's seemingly bottomless eyes, she thought she could smell something. Something…amazing. And then it hit her. _'Cologne…' _Seishirou thought to herself as she took a second to scope out Raku, _'yep, that's definitely it. So he wears cologne, eh? And fancy stuff from the smell of it. It smells divine…'_

"Oi, Seishirou," Raku nervously said, breaking his bravado, "are you alright, did I go to far?"

Seishirou snapped back to her senses, and would've fallen flat on the floor had it not been for Raku's lightning fast reflexes. He stood her up straight as Seishirou stammered, "What the-…Y-Y-You…"

"Sorry about that." Raku said as he backed off of Seishirou. He smiled as he cast his own glance to the skyline and said, "I always found skylines really…" he swallowed in a miserable attempt to quell the blush that painted his face, "r-romantic." A silent squeal could be heard slipping past Seishirou's lips as Raku went on to say, "So, I figured that I'd just act on a whim and see where it went." Raku chuckled as Seishirou turned her steaming personage from him.

_'Every time! Every damn time!' _Seishirou mentally exclaimed, _'Every time I think that I'm over it all, he does something like this! Then the next thing I know, my heart's racing, my body's shaking…it's something I've never felt before in my life…is this what they call your first…l-l-lo-'_

"Uh, Seishirou?" Raku said as he placed his hand on her shoulder and she spun around to face him, "Listen, if you're still pissed about that whole thing…" Raku removed his hand from Seishirou's shoulder (Seishirou somehow felt empty after the fact, wanting back there for some reason), then assumed a bizarre pose. Raku extended his arms to the full length of his wingspan, braced his legs, and locked eyes with Seishirou as he said, "Go ahead. I deserve whatever you do to me."

_'Please not the balls. Please not the balls. Please not the balls.' _Raku silently prayed, being sure not to let his desperation show on his face.

Seishirou cast an honest chuckle in Raku's direction, lowering her head as she whispered, "You always were like this…"

"Eh?" Raku replied, relaxing his braced position slightly. As he opened his eyes he saw Seishirou stepping towards him, her right fist balled up tighter than he'd ever seen. He re-braced for the impact of bone on gut, but instead, he felt the gentle touch of Seishirou's open hand on his chest.

Raku looked down at her, only to meet her eyes as she said, "It's fine." in the calmest tone Raku had ever heard out of her.

_'What's gotten in to me lately…? Honestly…' _Seishirou thought, her face practically ablaze from the blush that currently painted it.

"U-Uh…" Raku managed to stammer out, completely overwhelmed by this whole ordeal, "Th-Thanks…"

Seishirou smiled, then turned around and began to walk back to the room. It wasn't until she was about halfway there that she began to reflect upon what she just done and said. _'What in the __**hell**__ am I thinking?! Raku Ichijo belongs to m'lady and that's that!' _as she slid the sliding glass door open, she continued, _'But why is it every time I say that, I only end up being drawn closer and closer to him. That moment back there on the balcony…' _Seishirou felt that overwhelming mix of chill and euphoria overtake her yet again, and thought, _'I…I didn't want it to end…I felt so safe…It was unlike anything I've ever felt before…' _As Seishirou realized what she was thinking, she slammed the door behind her and exclaimed, "**FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!**" only to hear an abrupt '**THUMP!**' accompanied by an "**AAAAGH!**" from behind her. She spun around to see that she was being followed back in by Raku, but in her fit of fluster, she slammed the door on him. There, on the balcony, lied a sprawled out and slightly bruised Raku. Seishirou slid the door open and said, "A-Are you okay…?"

Raku struggled to his feet, his bright yellow house slippers almost causing him to slip on the finely polished floor. "Yeah, I'm alright," Raku replied, rubbing his forehead where a small bruise was beginning to show, "don't worry about it." Raku finished as he patted Seishirou on the head reassuringly. A small gasp of air escaped from Seishirou's lips as Raku did so, then said, "I'm gonna go take a shower and get ready for bed. I think you should do the same!" as he walked back towards the bathrooms.

"I know, I know!" Seishirou called back in reply, eliciting a small chuckle from Raku as he entered the bathroom. Seishirou looked further back into the hallway to see all the luggage they had left with Nijo. Seishirou wandered over to inspect it for any damages, only to see it all in perfect condition, topped off with a note from Nijo:

_**Everything's all fine here, sorry about the wait**_**_!_  
**

**- **_**Nijo**_

**P.S. Hi~! Ichinose here (**_**They can tell that, Ichinose, your handwriting's different from mine…)(**_**Oh, right…)! If you want to impress Master Raku, then I recommend just being yourself. I think he'll fall for you from there fairly easily!**

"B-Be myself…?" Seishirou read, her very being trembling at the thought of being held in that romantic embrace of Raku's all the time. She noticed there was some more writing at the bottom.

_**P.P.S. 'Be yourself'?! Jeez, Ichinose. What are you, some sort of girl's manga writer? You really think that's gonna work?**_

**P.P.P.S. Well, it can't hurt to try, Nijo!**

**P.P.P.P.S. ****I can hurt BOTH of you if you don't get back to work!**** - ****Sanpei**

_**P.P.P.P.P.S. Oh yeah, Sanpei?! Well let me tell you something-**_

There was more writing, but Seishirou crumpled up the note and tossed it into a nearby trash bin before she lost any more brain cells than she already had. She heaved a heavy sigh, then trudged into the bathroom as she thought, _'But maybe…just maybe…' _she closed the bathroom door behind her as she finished, _'I guess it couldn't hurt to give it a shot…f-for m'lady's sake that is!'_

Raku emerged from the shower roughly 20 minutes after entering, dressed in his pajamas which consisted of a pair of dark blue pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. As he plopped himself on his bed, he lamented over the recent happenings of the day. From everything on the airplane, at Kansai Airport, the bus stop, and even the recent balcony incident.

He heaved a sigh of confusion as he mentally exclaimed, _'Damn it! Some vacation this'll be if every day's exactly like this one!' _he pulled the body pillow out from under him and pushed it to the edge of the bed in order to better comfort himself, then fluffed the pillow underneath him as he lamented, _'Well, the balcony thing was actually pretty romantic. If I did something like that with Chitoge…' _Raku shuddered at the mental image of Chitoge screaming, **"Put me down right now, damn it! What the hell are you thinking, idiotic bean sprout!?"** and quickly abandoned that thought train. He proceeded to think, _'Although, doing that with Onodera…' _and that's when Raku first began to notice it. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't replay the situation that had just happened and replace Seishirou with Onodera. Despite everything he tried, every mental trick he knew, it was like Seishirou was seared into his memory. What's more is that every time he replayed the scene in his head, he noticed more and more things about Seishirou that he never noticed in the first place. From the subtle smiles that Seishirou bore here and there and the gentle wafting of her hair against the night breeze, to the curvature of her figure, and how her eyes seemed absolutely luminescent against the night atmosphere.

"I really did mean what I said back there…" Raku gently whispered to himself. "Damn it…" he cursed as he covered his face with his hands and attempted to sort the flurry of emotions he currently felt.

"Something wrong?" Seishirou inquired as she emerged from the hallway dressed in her own pajamas. As Raku opened his eyes, he noticed that even her pajamas gave off a boyish feel (gray sweatpants and a loose blue t-shirt that was still tight about Seishirou's chest), however, Raku attributed that to Seishirou not knowing the feel of traditional girls' pajamas. He began to imagine exactly what Seishirou would look like in a skimpy white lace nightgown, but was interrupted by Seishirou snapping her fingers in Raku's direction from her bed and calling, "What is it they say? Earth to Raku? Are you there?"

Raku shook himself from his trance and replied, "Lance Corporal Raku Ichijo, reporting in!" in a jocular tone, "All is good here…"

"A-Are you sure?" Seishirou inquired, doing her best to not faint at the attractive figure that the damp Raku before her gave off.

"Absolutely." Raku replied with a smile as he slipped underneath his blankets and turned off his desk lamp. "Now, go on and get to sleep, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

"O-Oh, right…" Seishirou replied as she too turned off her desk lamp and buried herself in her blankets.

"Good night!" Raku called from his bed as he drifted off to sleep.

"Y-Yeah…'Night…" Seishirou weakly replied as she racked her head against her amorous thoughts (even though she refused to admit they were amorous in nature).

_'What am I gonna do…' _she thought as she held tightly to her body pillow, _'if this keeps up…' _she then cast a glance at the body pillow and thought, _'What if we ended up…sleeping together?' _she briefly imagined the body pillow was Raku himself, but quickly attempted to throw it off her bed. However, no matter how hard she tried, she always ended up clinging to it tighter and tighter, the idea of it being Raku intensifying in her mind every time. _'It's just as I thought…I really do…l-…'_

Seishirou drifted off before she could finish that sentence. But that night, Seishirou slept sounder than she could've ever imagined possible.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Kazu brothers all huddled around the coffee machine in the small canteen behind the receptionist's desk. Ichinose sipped from his purple mug, Nijo from his fiery red mug, and Sanpei from his cool green mug. The scorching black liquid was what powered them through many restless nights, yet somehow, it never dragged them down in any way.

Ichinose grabbed a seat at one of the plastic tables and said, "Well, today was a surprisingly good day!"

"For once, I must concur." Sanpei remarked, leaning up against the countertop the coffee machine sat upon. "No complaints from those two girls up on Floor 15, the couple in Room 12 on Floor 4 seemed unusually peaceful, thankfully they take their leave tomorrow, and-"

"And our Miracle Couple in the Penthouse is coming along beautifully!" Nijo interjected, copping a squat on the table that Ichinose sat at. He turned his attention to Ichinose as he said, "By the way, I'm pretty sure our note got thrown out…"

"Aww, really?" Ichinose moped.

"Oh boo-hoo," Sanpei droned, "like you had any real romantic advice on there anyway…"

"Oi, Oi," Nijo piped up, donning that cocky smile he was so well-known for, "are you insinuating I know nothing of romance?"

"Are you insinuating that you know _anything_ of romance?" Sanpei retorted without missing a beat.

"Ouch…" Nijo replied, making a motion as though he had been hit by something in his chest.

"Nice comeback, Sanpei!" Ichinose applauded.

"DON'T COMMEND HIM!" Nijo exclaimed, his words unheard.

"Please, he walked into that one…" Sanpei droned as he sipped his coffee.

"ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I'M EASY TO INSULT?!" an exasperated Nijo inquired, his inquiry falling on deaf ears.

"Well, be that as it may," Sanpei stated, "Mistress Seishirou has quite a ways to go before she can be truly honest with herself…"

"Whaddya mean?" Nijo replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Right now she knows she's in love with Master Raku," Sanpei explained, "she just hasn't come to terms with it yet."

"How can you tell?" Ichinose inquired as he turned to Sanpei, jostling his purple locks in the process.

"I can read people fairly well." Sanpei responded, "Like Master Raku, right now, he too is conflicted, and among multiple parties at that."

"What a stud." Nijo cheered, only to be met with a crumpled up plastic cup from the countertop beaning him on the head, courtesy of Sanpei.

"However," Sanpei added, "if we can get those two to come full terms with one another's affections," Sanpei paused to take a sip of his coffee, "then there's no doubt they will make a lovely couple."

"Since when did _you_ start helping _us _play matchmaker, Sanpei?" Nijo inquired, leaning in towards Sanpei.

"It's something to shake up the monotony, shall we say?" Sanpei replied. "Something about putting those two together just entices me so."

"Well, welcome to the crew then." Nijo remarked. He extended his right hand into the middle of the three brothers. "All in."

Ichinose happily placed his right hand on top of Nijo's, and Sanpei begrudgingly placed his on top of Ichinose's.

"We hereby swear we will get Seishirou Tsugumi and Raku Ichijo together. No matter what!" Nijo declared.

"Of course!" Ichinose chimed in.

"Agreed." Sanpei said.

After a small moment of silence, Ichinose spoke up, "So…how do we go about doing this…?"

"I have **no idea!**" Nijo cheerily responded.

"Why am I not surprised…" Sanpei droned as he set his mug down to massage his aching temples.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: So the Kazu brothers have decided to play matchmaker! Meanwhile, Raku and Seishirou battle these bizarre feelings that we all know as 'love'. _

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all next week!_

_If you really enjoyed it, why not write a review/follow it/favorite it?! It would make me absolutely overjoyed, as I love knowing you guys are enjoying this as much as I do writing it. And even if you don't, it's fine, I still appreciate you taking the time to read this story!_

_Until next week,_

_See ya!_


	6. Clothing Mishap

_A/N: Before I get on to the details of this chapter I just wanted to say thank you for all the nice words in the reviews. It really warms my heart to read you guys talking about how much you enjoy this fiction, it honestly does. _

_Alright, now that that's done, welcome to the newest chapter!_

_Where we last left them, Seishirou and Raku had a more than romantic scene on the balcony, and the Kazu brothers decided to devote themselves to playing matchmaker for our couple! How will they pull that off? And will Seishirou come to terms with her feelings soon?_

_Only one way to find out…let's go!_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It was around 11:00 A.M. or so when Seishirou was awoken by a rather delicious scent. As her eyes slowly blinked, she began to recall where she was. As her eyes darted around the room she saw Raku's bed was oddly immaculate; not a single sheet was out of place, nor was there a wrinkle to be found upon the pillowcases. However, that had its own reason: Raku wasn't in bed at all.

Seishirou realized Raku's absence when she saw the body pillow was occupying the stretch of bed where Raku normally would have been.

_'That bastard,' _Seishirou drowsily thought as she clenched her blankets, _'darting off on his own without a single regard for me…' _

Seishirou darted up, only to elicit a startled, "**AH!"** from the foot of her bed. As she looked in that direction, Seishirou saw Raku coming her way, dressed in a pair of solid white shorts and a pink v-neck t-shirt. His hair still had that odd essence of bedhead that it always had, and the X-accessory glistened as the sun streaked through the glass door that exited to the balcony.

_'Huh? Does he polish that damn thing?!' _Seishirou thought as she cast a glance at the accessory, but then diverted her gaze to the outside.

From a momentary glance outside, Seishirou could see the city was already abustle with people making their late morning commutes to work, or some just returning from a long night's work. Billboards and company logos alike all remained vibrantly lit, despite it being daytime on a perfectly clear and sunny day where the only clouds that peppered the sky were wispy cirrostrati.

As Seishirou looked Raku's way once more she saw that he had almost lost his balance, but had successfully re-centered himself, and was also toting a small wooden tray. Upon the tray was a still steaming breakfast consisting of golden waffles fluffier than the clouds in the heavens above doused with syrup that slowly trickled down along their curvaceous bodies and whipped cream that seemed to melt with the syrup, strawberries (sands stems) in a pristine white bowl, orange juice that looked like a small dash of lemon had been added to it, all topped off with a single white rose in a clear vase.

"Ah, you're awake!" Raku declared brandishing an honest smile, "Excellent! Well, better eat up!"

"W-Wait a minute," Seishirou said as Raku drew closer with the breakfast tray, "what's the meaning of this?!"

Raku looked down at the breakfast tray, then up at Seishirou as he replied, "Breakfast in bed of course!" then sat the tray down in Seishirou's lap. "Now go ahead and eat up," Raku said as he reached behind Seishirou to fluff her pillow, "we have a busy day planned at the aquarium, remember?"

If the fact that Raku's face was no more than mere centimeters away from her at the moment, causing her memories of the prior night to flood back to her, wasn't enough to cause her to become flustered beyond compare, then the fact that he had prepared breakfast in bed for her was.

As Seishirou reached for her silverware, she inquired, "How did you do this?"

"Easy;" Raku responded as he sat down next to Seishirou, "I asked Sanpei for the key to the kitchen, dug around in the cabinets for the ingredients, and just took it from there!"

_'Of course I won't tell her that I did this at 7 A.M. because I was hungry too,' _Raku thought, his expression not showing it in the slightest, _'that'd just make me seem sleazy…' _

Seishirou internally squealed over the whole ordeal, but somehow found the strength to say, "You could've just woken me up earlier, you know…they serve continental breakfast here…"

"I know," Raku responded, locking eyes with Seishirou, "but…I don't know how to put it…you were just so cute when you were asleep!" Raku said as he flashed a broad smile, he then turned from Seishirou as he remarked, "Yeah, that's it!"

Seishirou almost dropped her silverware then and there to either throw herself at Raku or throw a punch at his jaw, even Seishirou wasn't sure which she would do (even though she was leaning more towards option A).

_'I've said it probably countless times before, but I'll say it again, what the hell is this guy's deal…' _Seishirou thought as she began to eat. As she took more and more bites of the delicacies before her, she was left helpless but to marvel at how Raku could prepare something this fantastic from basic ingredients. However, she did think of one small thing, _'And how did he know that I love white roses…'_

_'Shit, shit, shit…' _Raku thought to himself as he smiled externally, _'I hope she didn't notice my blush…' _

"Anyways," Raku said as Seishirou ate, "like I said, today's a busy day." Seishirou glanced upwards at Raku as he continued, "If we hurry up and get dressed after you finish eating, we can make it to the aquarium by noon. From there, we have all the time in the world to do as we please until we get tired or the aquarium closes down!"

Seishirou raised an eyebrow and inquired, "How did you know what I had planned for us today?"

"I'll answer that with a better question," Raku replied, "whose laptop did you type up the schedule on in the first place?"

Seishirou swallowed hard as she remembered the hour or two she had spent on Raku's laptop typing up their itinerary for the entire week and a half, but then marveled at Raku's impressive memorization skills.

"Why go to the trouble of memorizing it all?" Seishirou inquired.

Raku turned to Seishirou and replied, "Well…it's just, really important to me, y'know?" Raku's smile perked up a bit as he continued, "I never get to spend as much time as I'd like to with you, so I figure doing this like this is the least I can do to get closer to you."

A small silence hung in the air, interrupted only by the small gusts of air that drafted through the open windows near the sliding glass door.

_'Ahhh…I went and spoke my mind again, didn't I…' _Raku lamented to himself behind the smile he currently wore, _'Oh well, it's not like I said anything I didn't mean…'_

_'Is it going to be like this every day?' _Seishirou thought as she dwelled on everything Raku had just said, a furious blush painting her face, _'If so…I'm in Heaven…' _Seishirou tensed up as she realized what she had just thought, but couldn't deny that what she had just said was what she truly thought and felt.

Raku unconsciously found himself miring at Seishirou as she continued to eat, observing every inch of her beauty while a hurricane of emotions ran wild in his head. However, when he came to his sense, he noticed something…

"Oi, Seishirou," Raku began, drawing Seishirou's attention.

"What is it?" Seishirou responded.

"Don't move, ok?" Raku said as he began to move closer to Seishirou.

A flustered Seishirou began, "O-Oi, what are you-" but before she could respond, Raku had already begun. He placed his right thumb on the bottom right hand corner of Seishirou's mouth, then slid it across her mouth ever so slowly. The entire time, both Seishirou and Raku were steaming from the heat of embarrassment, each one oblivious to the other's heat.

As Raku concluded the act, still rather close to Seishirou's face, his hand still on her left cheek, he stated, "Y-You had something in the corner of your mouth…s-so I got it for you…"

"U-Uh, th-thanks…" Seishirou meekly replied.

_'H-He's touching me…' _Seishirou thought, overwhelmed by this forwardness, _'This is…amazing…I mean, disgusting! Er, no, I mean…'_

As a confused Seishirou wrestled with her emotions, Raku thoughts, _'W-Wow…her skin's so soft…' _as he gently rubbed Seishirou's cheek, then pulled his hand away, _'I noticed it on the balcony last night, but it's really soft. And her lips are just…' _

As Raku lamented over the perfection of Seishirou's lips, Seishirou spoke up and inquired, "D-Do you think m'lady would be fine if she knew that we were together right now?"

"Eh? Why would Chitoge give a damn about if I'm with a girl other than her?" Raku responded as he shrugged his shoulders.

Seishirou furrowed her brow as she replied, "Isn't that what a girlfriend is supposed to do?"

Raku's world completely stopped for a second as he internally slapped himself for letting his tongue slip yet again. _'That's right,' _Raku thought to himself, _'no one ever told Seishirou that Chitoge and I are a fake couple because if they did, that damn four-eyes would be all over us…'_

"O-Oh y-yeah! Sorry about that one, Seishirou." an unconfident Raku replied, "It must be jet lag and all that's messing with my head, ha ha…"

"Yeah…sure…" Seishirou conspicuously concurred as she thought to herself, _'That just now…that wasn't a normal insult like I normally see them throw at each other, that was honest discontent with her. Was Master Claude right? Are they really a fake couple? And if that's true…' _Seishirou felt the all-to-familiar blush begin to creep up ever inch of her body again as she thought, _'does that mean I have a chance with Raku?' _As hard as Seishirou tried to dispel these thoughts, she couldn't help but linger on the idea of her entangled with Raku amorously.

"Anyways," Raku said, still shaking from the whole tongue slip ordeal, "you should get dressed ASAP. In the meantime," Raku plucked the now empty tray from Seishirou's lap as he said, "I'll just leave this out in the welcome room for one of the Kazu brothers to get later."

As Raku left the room and trotted down the hallway, Seishirou couldn't help but attempt to sort through the emotional typhoon in her head as she unzipped her suitcase to obtain her attire for the day.

_'Why do I feel like this? Like I have a chance to make Raku Ichijo my-' _It wasn't Seishirou's thoughts that stopped her mid-thought, but it was what was in front of her.

**"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" **Seishirou shrieked at the top of her lungs, and sufficiently startling Raku in the process as he fell back onto the hardwood of the hallway and let out a stifled grunt of his own.

Raku entered the room, slightly rubbing the back of his head, and inquired, "What is it?! Did something happen?!" Raku saw that Seishirou was sitting on her bed, ominously glaring down at her suitcase with a look of both malice and horror.

Seishirou turned her glare to Raku and merely pointed down at her suitcase with her shaky right finger. "_Suit…case…' _Seishirou croaked as she returned her glare to her suitcase.

Raku slowly walked over to the jet black suitcase, and equally as slowly glanced down at it, only to see something he would've never expected.

Seishirou's clothes, from her tops to her underwear, was all tattered and torn, as though it had been put through the wash one too many times. Raku knelt down and began to sift through various articles of clothing, only to find that nary a one had been spared this tragic fate.

"H-How…w-when…w-why…" Was all Raku could manage to stutter as Seishirou looked on in horror. Raku turned his gaze to Seishirou as he quickly said, "C-Calm down, calm down! We can figure this out, trust me!" Seishirou snapped out of her terror-stricken state at Raku's words, somehow comforted at the sound of Raku's voice. Raku hesitated for a moment before grabbing Seishirou's hand and saying, "I swear that I'll find a way to fix this! I absolutely will!"

Seishirou miraculously cracked a small smile at Raku as she thought to herself, _'I don't know who's a bigger idiot…him for being like this, or me for hoping that him and m'lady aren't dating…' _As Raku drew back from Seishirou, Seishirou couldn't help but steam up again from embarrassment at what she had just thought, however, yet again, she couldn't deny it.

Raku ran his hand through his hair as he said, "Nijo was the last person to touch your luggage right? Let's get him up here and see what he knows…" Raku walked over to the phone and quickly dialed the hotel lobby's number, and began to chatter as Seishirou took the time to think about what had just happened.

_'Why do I feel so reassured about this?' _Seishirou inquired of herself, _'If it was anyone else, I'd be seriously doubtful, but when it comes to him, I feel so safe…He's such an idiot about it all, but I can't help but feel drawn to him…It's just like everyone told me…I'm…' _Seishirou gulped heavily as she was about to utter the words to herself, but before she could, she heard the sound of Raku hanging up the phone as he declared,

"Nijo said he'll be up in a few minutes." Raku turned to Seishirou as he continued, "Don't worry. Like I said, we'll get to the bottom of this one way or another!"

Seishirou smiled an honest smile at that, and, through the overwhelming blush, nodded her head in agreement.

**[5 MINUTES LATER]**

Seishirou, dressed in the same outfit as the day before, picked Nijo up by his suit vest and violently slammed him against the wall.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy there doll," Nijo cooed in that annoyingly sly tone of his, "you'll damage the do." Nijo gestured to his faux hawk as he said this.

Raku, who was sat upon the couch, spoke up and said, "We don't give a damn about your hair! What we _do _care about is-"

**"WHY THE HELL ARE MY CLOTHES ALL TORN UP?!"** A furious Seishirou inquired, her rage evident in her eyes, **"YOU'D BETTER HAVE A DAMN GOOD ANSWER BUDDY, OR I'LL CUT OFF YOUR HAIR AND THAT ANNOYING HEAD THAT GOES WITH IT!"**

"Temper, temper, someone's gonna blow…" Nijo aimlessly said as he averted his gaze from Seishirou and instead turned towards Raku and said, "Oh, 'morning Master Raku. You're looking effervescent! How's every little thing?"

"It'd be better if you'd just tell us what you know about Seishirou's clothes." Raku snidely retorted.

"Oi oi," Nijo responded, "some 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' routine this is."

**"IT ISN'T A DAMN ROUTINE!" **Seishirou exclaimed as she pointed to her suitcase, **"MY CLOTHES ARE TORN UP AND YOU WERE THE LAST PERSON TO HAVE THEM! WHAT DO YOU KNOW!"**

"Oh _those clothes_," Nijo said as he pointed to Seishirou's suitcase, "yeah, I knew about those."

Seishirou was so stunned upon hearing those words that her grip slacked up enough for Nijo to break free. He sauntered over to the couch where he swiftly plopped himself down, the impact of his body on the leather making a loud 'Thud!', and propped his head up with a decorative pillow.

"You knew about this?" Raku inquired as he turned to Nijo.

"Oh yeah, big time." Nijo confidently replied with an honest smile on his face.

"Then why the hell did you say everything's fine in your letter?!" Seishirou forcefully inquired as she walked over to the couch.

"Oh yeah, about that…" Nijo began, tensing up slightly, "Well you see, when it comes to hotel luggage, I have a different definition of 'fine' than most people."

"Elucidate, **now**." Seishirou demanded as she leaned up on the wall nearest to Raku.

"Well, I'm not one to get pedantic about the condition of a traveller's actual luggage," Nijo began, "that's just too much work. So, in accordance with hotel rules, I search it for everything that is deemed 'threatening' in nature. I.E. knifes, guns, bombs, intercontinental ballistic missiles-"

"Why are ICBMs on the list?" A nervous Raku inquired.

"We had this group of dudes, it's a long story." Nijo replied cheerily.

_'Why are you so lax about it?!' _Seishirou mentally inquired.

"Well anyways, I just check it for all the contraband stuff, but that's about it." Nijo explained, "I'm also in no obligation to inform patrons if there's a problem with their luggage if it doesn't involve any of the aforementioned objects. In fact, if I do, I run the risk of getting us sued for invasion of privacy."

Raku furrowed his brow and turned to Seishirou for a response.

"He has a point…unfortunately…" Seishirou grimaced.

"But wait a minute, that still doesn't explain why the clothes are like that in the first place." Raku said. He turned to Nijo as he inquired, "What's your opinion on it?"

Nijo raised his eyebrows as he responded, "Since I don't know much about clothes in the first place, I asked someone who does; Sanpei."

"You spoke to him before you came up here?" Raku inquired.

"Yep, that's what took me so long." Nijo replied. "Well anyways, when I told him about all this, he said it sounded like a classic case of being washed too roughly."

"Washed too roughly?" Seishirou reiterated.

"That's what the old four-eyes said." Nijo replied, "And I gotta say, I agree with him. So, now I'll ask, who was the last person to wash your clothes?"

Seishirou thought about if for a moment before she completely stiffened up from the realization she had just had.

"Uh…Seishirou?" Raku said as he shook Seishirou slightly in an attempt to free her from her trance.

"Mistress Seishirou?" Nijo said as he leaned forward, causing the pillow that rested beneath his head to fall behind his back.

"I just remembered…" Seishirou said in a spaced-out tone, "The last time I had my clothes cleaned was when I gave them to milady…and milady runs her laundry through…Master Claude…"

"That damn four-eyes?!" Raku exclaimed.

"He must've run my laundry with the boy's laundry…" Seishirou concluded.

"Yep, that'll do it!" Nijo declared as he rose up from his seat. He stretched his arms and said, "Well, I'm off! If there's anything else that you need, just give us a ring!"

As Nijo trotted down the hall and out the door Seishirou heaved a heavy sigh and droned, "Great, now what?"

Raku clenched his fists as he grunted out, "I'm not letting it end here…" Raku rose up from the couch, turned to Seishirou, and said, "I'll fix the clothes."

"Huh?!" Seishirou inquired as she lurched forward from shock.

"I'll fix them!" Raku reiterated as he ran over to his bedside and began rummaging around in his own suitcase. After a few minutes, he pulled out a small black case, and opened it to reveal a surprisingly well-stocked sewing set. "I brought this along in case I tore up any of my clothes, but given the circumstances, I'll just use it to repair your clothes!"

In absolute awe of Raku's offer, Seishirou was helpless but to nod and blush, not sure which one to do more of. When she snapped to her senses after a few seconds, she mustered up the will to inquire, "W-Where did you learn to sew in the first place?"

"Hm?" Raku said as he perked up his head from his bed where he was already laying out his sewing supplies, "Oh, the guys around the house are always tearing up their clothes for some reason or another, and since I'm in charge of laundry in the first place, I figured I should learn it."

_'Of course, I've never had any experience with patching up women's clothes,' _Raku thought, _'but what she doesn't know won't hurt her. After all, how hard can it be?'_

"Actually," Raku added, "if you don't mind, could you run an errand for me?"

"An errand?" Seishirou inquired as she rose up from the wall and walked towards Raku.

"Yeah, see, in exchange for allowing me to use the kitchen, I had to make a deal with Sanpei." Raku replied. "I promised that I would return whatever ingredients I used and restock whatever was missing in the kitchen to begin with." Raku rummaged around in his pocket and produced a small sheet of lined notepad paper. He uncrumpled it and handed it to Seishirou (who emitted a silent squeal from making momentary contact with Raku's hand), who glossed it over. "This way you won't have to be cooped up with me all day while I work," Raku added as Seishirou looked down from the shopping list, "plus, it would mean a lot to me."

Seishirou felt her heart rate increase exponentially with those words. Dismissing this, she tucked the shopping list away in her right pants pocket and replied, "I suppose it can't be helped. Fine."

"Really?" An excited Raku exclaimed as he shot up from his knelt over position, nearly knocking all of his sewing materials over, "That's great!" Raku donned a bright and perky smile as he added, "Oh, and one last thing I'd like to ask of you."

"What is it?" Seishirou said, just short of entering the hallway.

Raku reached into his pocket and pulled out his solid black cell phone, flipped it open, and, heart racing, responded, "D-Do you think we could exchange cell phone numbers and mail addresses? Please?"

Seishirou, frozen in her tracks and far to flustered to move in the first place, replied, "Wh-Why on earth-"

"Well I figure since we're traveling together, we should have some way to keep in touch." Raku replied, still grasping his phone, "Y-Y'know, in case something happens?"

_'Shit!' _Raku internally scolded, _'I really did it know, huh? And this is a new phone too…Well, if she gets mad, hopefully she'll just break my phone instead of my legs or my arms or my-'_

Raku's thought train was interrupted by a small ringtone emitting from his phone. He had been so distracted with his thoughts that he didn't see Seishirou pull out her baby blue phone and send a contact request.

**DO YOU WISH TO ADD**

**Seishirou Tsugumi**

**【****YES****】【****NO****】**

Raku was in disbelief at this whole thing for a few moments, but didn't hesitate for a second when he selected "Yes" with the D-Pad. He looked up at Seishirou who currently had her head bowed such that her blue locks covered her face (unbeknownst to Raku this was to disguise the fact that her face was entirely maroon red).

_'She probably did this even though she really didn't want to…' _Raku mired as he gazed on at Seishirou's contact, _'She's amazing…'_

_'I can't believe it, I can't believe it, I just can't believe it.' _A steaming Seishirou thought, _'I did it. I actually did it. What should I do? Send him an e-mail right now? Do a 'test call'? It was easy when I did it with Mistress Onodera, but when it's him…'_

"Do you need money?" Raku spoke up as he pocketed his phone.

"Hm?" Seishirou responded, still starry-eyed from this whole ordeal.

"For the groceries," Raku replied, "do you need money?"

"O-Oh! N-No, thank you." Seishirou shakily replied as she pocketed her phone. "I'll be off now…"

"Be careful!" Raku called after her as she began to walk down the hallway. "And don't worry, I'll have everything done by the time you get back!"

As Seishirou turned the knob to exit the room, Seishirou, with her head still turned away from Raku, called back, "Yeah, I know!" in a cherrier-than-normal tone.

As the door closed behind her, Raku cocked his head to the side and inquired of himself, "Was it just me, or did she sound really…happy just now…?" Raku dwelled on it for a moment, but eventually dismissed it with a sigh. Picking up a few spools of thread and a needle, he strutted over to Seishirou's suitcase, plucked out a plain white long-sleeved shirt, and got to work. As he began to sew up a hole that was right below the neckline, he froze for a moment and thought, _'Come to think of it, what's gonna happen when I get to her…' _Raku gulped as he thought, _'underwear…'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

As the elevator doors opened with a 'ding!' Seishirou strutted towards the front desk, her sneakers clacking against the freshly cleaned stones. The lobby was, once again, devoid of life. However, there was one oddity that interrupted the peace. From behind the receptionist's desk there stuck out a pair of legs clad in polished dress shoes and hotel trousers. As Seishirou knocked on the desk, the person whom the legs belonged to let out an "AGH!" and fell backwards.

Seishirou, recognizing the voice as Ichinose's, said, "Ichinose?"

A groggy and windless Ichinose shakily rose to his feet, his purple locks completely disheveled, as he said, "Oh, Mistress Seishirou! What can I do for you?"

"I thought you said you weren't going to sleep at the desk anymore?" Seishirou remarked as Ichinose regained his awareness.

"Oh no, I just meant that I wasn't going to sleep _lying down_," Ichinose replied, as full of vim and vigor as he ever had been, "so I'm trying new positions. Just now I was sleeping while doing a headstand, and I must say, it was surprisingly good! I give it a 7/10 on the comfort scale."

_'I give you a 0/10 on the intelligence scale!' _Seishirou mentally droned.

"Well anyways, Raku put me in charge of getting some groceries for you kitchen while he repairs my clothes," Seishirou said as she leaned up against the desk, "so I was wondering if you knew where the nearest supermarket is."

"Oh yeah, there's one downtown." Ichinose replied. "If you head out right now, you should be able to catch the bus a few blocks from here."

"Great, thank you." Seishirou dismissively replied.

Just before Seishirou was out the door, Ichinose called after her, "So, how are things with Master Raku?"

Seishirou froze in her tracks, and turned to Ichinose with a completely flustered face as she responded, "Wh-Why do you need to know?!" before she dashed out the door.

Ichinose chuckled at her reply, and muttered to himself, "Looks like everything's all fine here…"

"Oi, Ichinose," Sanpei called as he emerged from the canteen behind the reception desk, "we've got a room service call up in Room 14 on Floor 27. Some guy is complaining the sheets aren't clean enough and-"

"No thanks Sanpei," Ichinose responded in that airhead tone of his, "I think I'm gonna go take a nap in the back for about 4 or 5 hours. Can I? Thanks…" Ichinose finished as he picked up his pillow and strutted back into the canteen.

"**I can make you sleep for a lot longer than 4 or 5 hours if you don't get back here!**" Sanpei exclaimed as he charged after Ichinose.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The bus ride to the supermarket was fairly uneventful. The bus leisurely drove down busy city roads that were littered with hustling and bustling cars of all shapes and sizes. Some on their afternoon commute, some on their way to the stores or to see the sights, and some just out for a drive. They passed buildings of all kinds, clothing stores, antique shops, game stores, several libraries, all had people of varying ages entering and exiting. Some were little kids overjoyed and forever grateful to their parents for whatever it was they had just bought them, some were pouty people (perhaps because they didn't have the money to buy what they wanted, or maybe it was some dispute with their home life), and some just seemed relaxed amidst the bombastic winter chaos.

After an hour or so, the bus arrived at the supermarket bus stop where Seishirou left the bus, trudged through the crowded parking lot, and entered Star-Mart.

The place had your basic supermarket design; a large eggshell white and dark blue storefront with two separate entrances that both led to different parts of the store (the entrance on the right led to the food and groceries section, while the one on the left led to home supplies and other etcetera). Seishirou entered through the right, and was instantly hit with a blast of warm air, a pleasant reprieve from the winter air outside. The flooring in this area was polished stone, much like that at the hotel, and people rushed in and out, their cart's wheels clacking on the rocks making for a raucous environment.

Seishirou, dismissing this all, grabbed a gray plastic basket, and walked onwards to the groceries area.

The first and foremost area was lined with fruits of all kinds; starfruit, apples, bananas, tomatoes, oranges, you name it, they had it. There was also a combination deli/bakery tucked away in the corner, from which wafted the delectable essence of pastries galore.

Seishirou, doing her best to resist her intrinsic love for sweets, carried on and picked up a box of strawberries. As she moved further back through the crowded aisles she picked up all the things on the list: eggs, flour, syrup, waffle mix, orange juice, and all the rest.

It wasn't until she was on her way out that she passed by the bakery again and couldn't help but go in for a further inspection of the treats that lie before her. Powdered donuts from which wafted the slightest particles of powdered sugar, donuts whose glaze glistened under the light, twists, fritters, cookies, crepes, each one looking more delicious than the last. Behind the counter, several female employees rushed back and forth, carrying trays of pastries in and out of the back area where Seishirou caught a few quick glimpses of baker's ovens, dough being beaten, and more things of the same sort.

As Seishirou eyed the sea of delectations before her, she found herself thinking, _'I wonder what kind of sweets Raku likes…' _tensing up at the idea and feeling the blush begin to creep up her face, she thought, _'I'm doing it again…Every time I think of something, I always end up thinking of whether or not Raku would like it or not…' _It was then that Seishirou remembered, _'Wait a minute…' _Seishirou rifled around in her pocked until she found her phone, opened it, and scrolled through her contact list to find Raku's name. She stood there, basket in around her arm, just staring at Raku's name, and contemplating whether or not to message him or not. _'It's just a simple thing, r-right? Just a quick question. "What kind of sweets do you like?". It's not like I'm going to buy him some or anything! Although…'_ Seishirou wrestled with these thoughts for a few minutes before an idea popped into her head.

Seishirou scrolled down in her contact list until she happened upon Onodera's contact.

**DO WHAT WITH KOSAKI ONODERA?**

E-MAIL

MESSAGE

CALL

⬅**BACK**

Seishirou quickly scrolled down to the 'E-mail' option, and began typing up a message, thinking, _'If anyone would know about this topic, it would be Mistress Onodera!' _as Seishirou concluded typing the message, she read it over once more for good measure.

**TO: **KOSAKI ONODERA

**RE: **SWEETS AND BOYS

**CC: **NONE

**BODY**

Mistress Onodera, I'm in a bit of a pinch.

How do you ask a boy what kinds of sweets he likes?

**[END]**

Thoroughly satisfied with its contents, Seishirou clicked 'Send'. It wasn't but a minute before Seishirou's phone vibrated, signifying a new message. Opening it, she saw it was indeed from Onodera.

**FROM: **KOSAKI ONODERA

**RE: **ANSWER

**CC:** NONE

**BODY**

Hi~Seishirou!

Uh, I'm not really good with these things (LOL), but I think that it'd be best if you were direct about it.

That way, he'll know what you're talking about and give you a clear answer!

Why do you ask, by the way? Who are you asking?

**[END]**

Seishirou instantly cursed herself for saying 'a boy' instead of 'someone', but realized she couldn't change what was in the past, and began typing a response.

**TO: **KOSAKI ONODERA

**RE: **SWEETS AND BOYS

**CC: **NONE

**BODY**

N-No reason really, just curious that's all.

However, thank you ever so much for this help, Mistress Onodera!

You are a far greater woman than I!

**[END]**

_'That should do for a modest thanks.' _Seishirou thought to herself as she sent the message off, not knowing how flustered she had made Onodera in the process of that conversation. Taking a deep breath in a feeble attempt to calm herself, Seishirou scrolled to Raku's contact, opened up the e-mail interface, and began typing her message.

**TO: **RAKU ICHIJO

**RE: **SWEETS

**CC: **NONE

**BODY**

I was just curious, what kinds of sweets do you like?

**[END]**

Seishirou smiled a smile that was a bizarre mix of flustered, embarrassed, and satisfied. _'Straightforward and to the point. There's no way he can misinterpret this! Not that it would be all bad if he did misinterpret it-IDIOT! I'm doing it again!' _Seishirou's hand trembled as she pressed the 'Send' button, and it spread to her entire body when Raku replied in what was most likely record time.

**TO: **ME

**RE: **SWEETS

**CC: **NONE

**BODY**

Macarons and strawberry crêpes are tied for my personal favorite.

Thanks for asking, by the way. Not many people do, so I'm glad you did :)

**[END]**

Beyond overwhelmed at this point, Seishirou struggled to type out a simple 'Thank you' message, then stow her phone and shake in what she thought felt like elation.

She caught several sideways glances from women and men who were out and about her, but she really didn't care that much at all.

_'Exactly the same…' _Seishirou thought, unusually giddy, _'We like exactly the same sweets!'_

Seishirou rung the bell on the counter and a bright-eyed brunette girl emerged from the back and cheerily said, "Hi, I'm Hiyori Hanamiya, how may I help you?"

Seishirou eyed their selection before seeing that, of Raku's list, there was only one option. "Four strawberry crêpes, please." she said with a radiant smile.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Well, that was kinda out of the blue…" Raku thought as he stowed his phone and continued patching up pieces of Seishirou's wardrobe. So far he had sewn up countless holes in blouses, long-sleeved shirts, and right now, he was at work on the trousers.

However, as he was working, his phone began to ring.

"Another distraction?" Raku droned as he placed the pants and needle on the bed and picked up his phone. "Hello?" Raku greeted as he picked up his sewing work again.

"YOOOOO, RAKUUUU!" an annoyingly familiar voice called from over the other end of the phone, "It's your favorite, Shuu!"

"Maiko?" Raku inquired, rubbing his thumb from pricking it so many times over the course of the past few hours, "What is it? And where are you?"

"Oh, I'm just lying around home, and I just wanted to call and see how that vacation is going for you!" Shuu cheerily replied from the other end. "So, where are you now? What are you doing? Who's that other mystery winner?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…" Raku sighed in reply as he finished patching one pair of pants and moved on to the next.

"Of course I would!" Shuu reassured, "Just tell me, c'mon!"

Raku heaved a heavy sigh before firmly responding, "Seishirou."

There was a momentary silence before Shuu shrieked from the other end of the line, **"LUCKYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"**

"EH?!" Raku exclaimed in reply, his ears still ringing from Shuu's wail.

"LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY RAKU!" Shuu sang in reply, "You get to be on a fabulous vacation with an equally fabulous girl! Oh you're so lucky I could kill you!"

"I'm not sure how much of a compliment that was…" Raku responded, unsure of how to interpret Shuu's previous statement.

"So…" Shuu cooed (Raku could tell that if he was there in person, he'd be doing that annoying thing where he invaded Raku's personal space and talked to him with that smug look on his face).

"What?" Raku inquired, genuinely curious.

"What's it like, sleeping in the same room with Seishirou?" Shuu inquired in a devious tone. "I bet you've seen her underwear haven't you, you lucky bastard?!"

_'If he only knew…' _Raku silently thought.

"I can't deny that…" and embarrassed Raku responded.

"Oh ho ho ho…" Shuu cackled in reply, "'How bold of you Master Raku', as Marika would say!"

Raku audibly projected his disgust and said, "Please, that's the last name that I want to hear on my vacation…No, wait, strike that. 'Chitoge Kirisaki' is the last name I want to hear, but 'Marika Tachibana' is a close second…"

"That aside, are you growing any closer to Seishirou?" Shuu inquired.

"I suppose." Raku responded. "Actually, I think we're both warming up to each other more nowadays!"

"Wow, that's beautiful Raku," Shuu cooed, "that really is. I'll pay you ¥500 if you tell me what cup size she is. ¥1000 if you send me a picture."

"Die. Right now. Please." Raku responded in a tone that he meant as halfways between serious and jocular.

"Joking! Joking!" Shuu replied, laughing all the while. "But Raku, it seems your still not aware of it just yet, are you?"

"Hm?" Raku inquired, "Aware of what?"

"All in due time my dear Ichijo!" Shuu confidently responded. "Well, glad to hear everything's going well for you! I'll talk to you later!"

"Oi, wait! Shuu!" Raku exclaimed before hearing the flatline tone, signifying Maiko had hung up on him.

"Honestly, that guy…" Raku lamented as he continued to sew up Seishirou's pants, "What did he mean by, 'you're still not aware of it yet'? He's too confusing about that kind of stuff…" Raku cast a small sigh in no particular direction as he reached into Seishirou's suitcase, only to feel the silky touch of what he deduced to be either Seishirou's bra or a pair of panties. He gulped as he slowly allowed his eyes to drift in the direction of Seishirou's suitcase and silently muttered, "Forgive me, Seishirou…"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It wasn't until late at night that Seishirou made it back to the hotel. This was due to a shaky bus schedule and the fact that Seishirou had to personally reorganize the kitchen ingredients on Raku's behalf. She had no real qualms with this, save for the one large beating that she would deliver to Claude when she returned home. As she rode up the elevator, she couldn't help but sing a small tune to herself, as embarrassing as it was, as she held the bag with the coveted crepes behind her.

_'What am I so giddy about, huh?' _she wondered to herself, _'I mean, it's just sharing crêpes with someone…so why does it set my heart into overdrive?'_

As the elevator arrived at their penthouse with a resounding 'ding!' Seishirou kicked off her shoes, slid into her house slippers, and entered the room. She happily skipped through the hallway and was about to call out Raku's name when she saw what he was doing.

Raku was sprawled out on her bed, face buried in the blankets, his needle and thread tossed haphazardly aside, and completely asleep. Seishirou was about to wake him and hit him for slacking on the job, that is, until she saw the couch over in the corner. Folded nice and neatly over there was every single piece of Seishirou's clothing; pants, shirts, socks, and even her bras and panties. And every single one of them looked brand new. They looked so perfect there was no way anyone could tell that there were ever holes in them.

Seishirou marveled at this sight once more before setting the crêpe bag down on the black marble table in front of the couch, and standing over Raku as she whispered, "You idiot…" in an almost playful tone. "No, I guess I'm the idiot for letting you do this, huh?" Seishirou cast a glance over to the crêpes before concluding, "Ah, they'll keep until morning…" and then doing something that she thought she'd never stop steaming from. Seishirou pulled a spare blanket from the closet next to her bed, threw it over Raku, then took a deep breath, and climbed under it with him.

All the while as she fell asleep Seishirou thought, _'I'm sleeping with a boy! I'm sleeping with a boy! What in the hell am I thinking?! And why Raku of all people?! What's worse is, why do I like it? The subtle heat from his body, the comfort of his presence, it's all so…enjoyable…So, I guess this is what it feels like to be…in…lo-' _Seishirou drifted off before she could finish that thought.

However, it was at that time that Raku was roused awake due to the heat Seishirou's blatant embarrassment was causing her.

"What the-" Raku silently said, but cut himself short when Seishirou shifted around in her sleep to the point where she was facing Raku. Raku was taken aback by the adorable creature before him. Seishirou's hair looking all disheveled and messy was something he had never seen out of her before. The subtle heat from her breathing, and not to mention the fact that in that instant Seishirou tossed her arms around Raku and held him tightly, cooing his name all the while.

_'Is she…' _Raku thought, _'dreaming about me?!' _Raku could help but get flustered at the fact, but did the only thing that he could think of. Raku gently wrapped his arms around Seishirou, lightly enough that it wouldn't wake her, and thought, _'What is it about this girl, huh? One minute she hits me, the next, this? And more importantly, why do I like it? Is it that I maybe-? I need to think about this…' _Raku let out a long yawn before he gently drifted off to slumberland.

That night, both parties slept better than they could've ever imagined possible.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Wowza that was a doozie, eh? Well, you guys deserved it!_

_And so the couple's feelings for each other inch ever closer towards love! Meanwhile, will Ichinose ever find a comfortable sleeping position? And what are __**your**__ favorite sweets?! _

_Yeah, the sweets that Raku mentioned are actually my favorite sweets, so I figured 'why not?'_

_If you really enjoyed this chapter, why not write a review/follow this story/add it to your favorites? And even if you don't, I'll still love you!_

_Thanks again for reading and until next week,_

_See ya!_


	7. Aquarium Day, Part 1

_A/N: So I may have (I did) take the week prior to this off to celebrate 4th of July and forgot to mention it and I left you guys hanging and…yeah._

_I'm sorry about that, but I had a family reunion for the week of the 4th that came up unexpectedly, forcing me to retire my pen and paper (fingers and keyboard) and actually interact with people. Yeah, I shudder at the though of it, too…_

_But, regardless of my barely tolerable family, I'm back and ready to make my triumphant return to my regular schedule. _

_So, where we last left them, the couple had fallen asleep in one another's arms after a long day, entangled and enraptured in amour that they were both blind to. _

_So, what will today bring for them?_

_There's only one way to find out…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Seishirou jostled herself left and right in the bus seat her and Raku occupied, humming a tune that Raku recognized as 'CLICK' by ClariS. As the bus (occupied by Raku, Seishirou, and one or two other people) whizzed down busy and bustling city streets adorned with lights, billboards, festive storefronts and more, the chilly winter winds that seeped in from the open window near the duo nipping at both of their skin, Raku took a moment to reflect on the events of the prior night.

'_It's weird, but she's been a little more cheery since then, hasn't she?' _Raku thought to himself as he adjusted his attire for the day, a button-up blue and white plaid flannel shirt with a white v-neck undershirt and jeans, _'I mean, she didn't bother talking about it this morning, she didn't fuss when I went and made her breakfast in bed again, and she even shared a crêpe with me…' _Raku glanced over to Seishirou who was still humming away, cheerier than he had ever seen her before, _'Come to think of it, that must be why she asked me about my favorite sweets yesterday…Damn, even though I thanked her, I still feel like I inconvenienced her. I need to make it up to her somehow…' _Raku returned his gaze to Seishirou, and noticed something that he felt foolish for not noticing in the first place. _'Wow…' _Raku internally marveled, _'she looks gorgeous today…'_

Indeed Seishirou had gone out of her way to dress up for today, donning a pale blue dress that was stitched around the hem of the skirt line with thread of a darker blue, and cut off about midway down her thighs. However, this particular dress held special significance to the duo. To Raku it held significance because it was the first girly thing he ever saw Seishirou wear (barring her underwear that he saw when the duo fell in the pool way back when), but to Seishirou, it held a completely different meaning.

In fact, had she been wearing something different, her mind would be completely free of doubt. But as of right now, her peaceful train of thought was plagued by the one small seed of doubt that was that dress.

'_If only I'd paid more attention to what I picked out this morning,' _Seishirou thought as she kept humming, keeping her gaze on the outside world and away from Raku, _'as if that whole ordeal last night wasn't enough, now there's this. This whole thing is just-wait a minute…' _Seishirou mentally paused, not breaking her hum however, _'Why am I getting so flustered over this but not what I did this morning? The crêpes, the breakfast, and the waking up next to each other…' _Seishirou's heart skipped a beat as she thought of one minor detail, _'We were…in one another's embrace, weren't we?' _Seishirou's heart resumed its beat, increasing it to more than triple what it should be, and the all-to-familiar blush rushed to her face once more. _'He didn't mind, and if anything, I…I liked it! No, I felt stronger about that than any other time I've fallen asleep next to someone. Of course, the only person I've ever slept with in the same bed was M'lady, but no matter. The undeniable truth is, I loved that sensation.' _Seishirou broke her hum and slowly began to rotate her head towards Raku as she thought, _'So, by default, doesn't that mean I love…'_

"Uh, Seishirou?" Raku interjected, breaking her train of thought, "Are you alright? You're blushing pretty badly. Are you coming down with a cold?" Seishirou froze as she realized what Raku was saying was true, and whatever she was feeling only intensified as the sincere concern in Raku's voice rang in her ears as he said, "Are you gonna be okay? Maybe coming out today was a bad idea…the cold can be a fickle thing…"

'_He's always like this…' _Seishirou thought as she managed a smile and continued, _'It's always everyone else before him in his mind. And I guess that's one of the many reasons why-'_

"Oi, Seishirou?" Raku said as he shook Seishirou's shoulder, breaking her trance, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Y-Yes," an unconfident Seishirou replied, "I'm just excited about today, that's all!"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Raku replied with a sigh of relief, "I'd hate to see a beautiful girl like you fall sick."

The duo froze for a moment at what Raku just said, both of them realizing the significance it held. An awkward pause ensued that involved both parties attempting to sort through a veritable typhoon of emotions, but it was interrupted as a voice boomed over the bus's PA, declaring:

"**Attention passengers, this is your driver, Taguchi Hikigaya, here to inform you that we are nearing the Aquarium and will arrive in about 10 minutes. Please be ready to depart and as always, thank you for riding Kaiyukan Buses and attending Kaiyukan Aquarium. Have a good day."**

Seishirou cheered at that announcement (only loud enough that Raku could hear, though), which drew Raku's attention. He turned to see the unusually girly side of Seishirou that he had only seen on this trip, and chuckled at the sight.

"What's so funny?" Seishirou inquired, breaking Raku's chuckle.

"Well, it's just that I rarely ever see you this excited about something." Raku explained as he rotated himself to face Seishirou on the red leather seat.

"Does my disposition annoy you?" Seishirou inquired, lowering an eyebrow at Raku.

"No no no, not at all!" Raku firmly replied. "I like being with you no matter what kind of mood you're in!"

As the duo simultaneously blushed, Raku spoke up and inquired, "So…do you like aquariums that much?"

"Absolutely!" Seishirou cheerily replied, causing Raku's blush to intensify, "I've always loved marine life ever since I was a kid."

"You too?" A surprised Raku inquired, drawing Seishirou's attention, "I mean, I always loved swimming and fishing as a kid, but I started taking an in-depth interest in it when I first took up diving over in the States."

"You've gone diving in the States?!" Seishirou inquired, shocked, "Lucky! Where did you go?"

'_Oh, it's happening again…' _Seishirou thought to herself as Raku voiced his reply.

"I went diving in several spots, actually. Once off the coast of Florida, and another time off the coast of California. It was absolutely amazing!"

"Lucky!" Seishirou replied, "I've gone diving and been in aquariums in Europe, but all the times I've ever gone to the States, it was always on business that was so high priority that I never got the chance to go diving anywhere."

'_It happens every time I start talking to him…' _Seishirou continued in her head.

"Well, I don't know what the Old Man would say," Raku began with a definite smile, "but maybe, if I sweet talk him into it or something, he'd let you come along the next time we go!"

Seishirou blushed at the offer and replied, "W-Would you really take me along?"

'_Our conversations…' _Seishirou drifted off as Raku replied,

"Of course!" Raku confidently replied.

'_They just seem to flow so well…' _Seishirou thought, _'It's so perfect, and so enjoyable, that sometimes I wish we could just keep talking like this…forever.'_

"S-Say, Raku," a flustered, flushed, and shaking Seishirou began as she tugged on Raku's shirt, drawing his attention.

"Yeah, what's up?" Raku replied.

'_What the hell am I doing?!' _Seishirou mentally exclaimed, _'My heart told my mind to act on what it was feeling, and now, all of a sudden, I'm like this!'_

'_She looks uncomfortable…' _Raku thought as he gazed at the shaking Seishirou, not knowing the true reason why she was shaking, _'And here I am, supposed to be watching over her and I let this happen! I'm such a useless bastard sometimes…'_ a proverbial lightbulb went off in Raku's head as he thought, _'I'll just lighten the mood!'_

"Say, Seishirou?" Raku replied.

Seishirou shot her gaze up to Raku and shakily responded, "Wh-What?"

"What's your favorite sea animal?" Raku inquired with a soothing smile.

"O-Oh," Seishirou replied, calming down slightly, "the manta ray. What about you?"

"I've always liked dolphins, personally," Raku replied, "thanks for asking!"

'_He always does things like this, too.' _Seishirou thought as she regained her calm, _'anytime I'm uneasy about anything, he knows just what to do…'_

"Dolphins and manta rays are both really majestic, don't you think?" Seishirou inquired, readjusting her dress beneath her.

"Oh, definitely!" Raku confidently responded, "In fact, they're both really alike, wouldn't you say?"

"I suppose so, yes!" Seishirou replied.

The conversation flowed perfectly like that for the entire bus ride there.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Yes, I realize that this chapter is far shorter than anything else in this story, but don't worry, I have a far lengthier chapter planned for next week! And I think you'll all appreciate what comes next…_

_By the way, thank you to everyone who stuck around during my absence and I promise that there will be no more unannounced absences in the future! Any time that I fine myself being absent, I will give you all at least 2 week's notice. _

_Thanks for reading this chapter, and if you enjoyed it, why not write a review/favorite the story/follow the story to keep up with future updates? And even if you don't I still love you all!_

_Until next week,_

_See ya!_


	8. Aquarium Day, Part 2

_A/N: Fun fact: I always feel weird whenever I write about anything involving/related to the ocean._

_You see, the thing is, I have **mild** thalassophobia (a fear of the ocean), yet at the same time, I'm deeply fascinated by the ocean and marine life. It's a bizarre love/hate relationship that I find rather exhilarating whenever I think about it. So whenever I do write about anything aquatic in nature, I try to embrace the love aspect of that relationship. I hope I can convey that well when I write this._

_Alright, enough of my life story, let's get on to what you're all waiting for, shall we?_

_Again, my sincerest apologies about cutting last week's chapter short, but I believe that the happenings of this week's chapter will more than make up for my shortcomings…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan was absolutely brobgdingnagian in magnitude. It covered more than two lots, and that didn't even include the outside exhibition area where they did the killer whale shows. The ground outside was playfully decorated with mostly gray, brown, white, and blue stone tiles that were polished within an inch of their proverbial life. Along the walkway in various places there were large rows of cerulean blue lights mounted to, 3-dimensional, metal isosceles triangles. The overcast weather only made them glimmer even more. Seishirou and Raku noticed kids and even a few parents marveling at how they glistened.

The façade of the building itself was equally as spectacular. The bottom half was decorated with a playful marine scene, full of schools of fish of all shapes and colors, angel fish, parrot fish, and reefs that housed all manner of aquatic life. It was all so childishly drawn, yet bore that bizarre aura that made it feel as thought they could come alive and start swimming along the wall at any given moment.

Above the bottom half the top layer of window glass was split along a diagonal line. Part of it was tinted brick red, and the above half was purely see-through, and through it you could see the roof of the interior, and the fluorescent lights upon it.

In the midst of all this, there was the centerpiece that topped all of this off. There was an enormous cresting humpback whale made out of glimmering white lights along the gray just above the door.

All in all, this place was the nirvana for lovers of all things aquatic. Speaking of…

Raku and Seishirou slowly strolled through the light setup outside. Raku was more caught up in thinking about the whole ordeal on the bus ride than anything else, but from what he could see, Seishirou's primary focus was squealing 'silently' about everything she had heard about this aquarium. This caused Raku to chuckle slightly, which drew Seishirou's attention and caused her to inquire, "Something wrong?"

"It's nothing," Raku replied with a smile, "I'm just so excited I'm having trouble holding it in!"

'_He really is like me…' _Seishirou thought as a gentle blush began to grace her cheeks.

Raku noticed the blush and stopped her as he grazed her cheek with his icy-cold hand and inquired, "Hey, your cheeks are a little red, are you _that _cold?"

Seishirou shivered both from the chill of the cold and the chill of Raku touching her, and shakily replied, "I-I'll be fine…"

The false bravado Seishirou donned as she made that comment was all too glaringly obvious to Raku. _'Of course she'd get cold in that skimpy dress, what was I thinking, letting her wear that on a winter day?' _Raku thought to himself. He sighed at himself (and a little bit at Seishirou) as he said, "Well, at least take this."

"Take wha-" Seishirou began but was cut off as Raku haphazardly tossed a dark red scarf around Seishirou's neck, instantly bringing warmth to her chilly body.

"I noticed you had this in your briefcase while I was patching things up yesterday," Raku commented as he re-buttoned up his flannel, "so I brought it along just in case we needed it."

"Y-You-" Seishirou stammered as she cuddled gently with the scarf.

"You know, that made me really happy to see you still kept that scarf around, considering how long ago White Day was," Raku commented as he gazed on at Seishirou, "I was scared that you would've thrown it out or something because you hated me."

Seishirou felt her body quiver ever so slightly as Raku uttered the word 'hate', and she thought, _'Did I really come off like that?'_ Seishirou lowered her head just enough that the fray of her blue locks dusted the tip of her eyes, then walked up to Raku and linked arms with him, snuggling up tight to him.

"Uh, S-Seishirou?" Raku stammered as he shot a few looks around to see if someone suspicious was nearby, which would cause Seishirou to have to hide her identity.

"Of course I don't hate you," Seishirou confidently stated as she strengthened her grip on Raku's right arm and looked up to face him in the eye, "idiot…"

"W-Well, that's great, and I'm happy to hear that," Raku nervously began, beginning to feel a slight blush creep up his own face, "but why are you-"

"I'm just cold, alright?!" Seishirou demurely replied, doing her best to conceal her flustered state. "Now c'mon, let's get inside…" Seishirou finished as she began dragging Raku along.

Raku rolled his eyes and flashed a smug grin as he responded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming…" as he was dragged along by his counterpart.

However, unbeknownst to the duo, they were being watched from afar by three familiar figures. On a cold metal bench sat three men in dark gray trench coats, with salt-and-pepper English caps, dark sunglasses, and newspapers with small peepholes through which they had been observing our couple.

"What'd I tell ya," Nijo mused as he lowered his newspaper and leaned back on the bench, "do I have an ear for these kinds of things or what?"

"I must admit, Nijo," Sanpei responded in that elegant tone of his, "I'm impressed that you managed to overhear them talking about the aquarium as they left the hotel this morning and that you knew a faster bus route than the one they were taking."

"Well, we could've known about it sooner if Rip VanWinkle hadn't been sleeping on the job when Master Raku was downstairs this morning!" Nijo jeered at Ichinose. "Why were you asleep standing up in the first place?!"

Ichinose lowered his newspaper and responded, "Well, sleeping on my head didn't work so I figured why not try sleeping standing up? Which isn't very comfy by the way, I give it a 6/10 on my comfort scale." As his two brothers droned a sigh of dismay and disbelief, Ichinose continued, "And if it's complaints we're filing then I'd like to talk about these weirdo disguises!"

"I don't understand your discrepancy, Ichinose," Sanpei replied as he turned to Ichinose, "I picked these disguises myself."

"Why doesn't that make me any less uneasy…?" Ichinose mumbled to himself.

"Regardless, what do we do now, Nijo? How do we play matchmaker like this?" Sanpei inquired of the red-haired man.

"You're looking at me?!" A surprised Nijo exclaimed, "I just got the information, I assumed _you _had a plan!"

"Me?!" Sanpei responded, "What would I know about affairs of the heart?!"

"I would assume _something_ given all those girl's magazines you're subscribed to." Nijo slyly replied.

A flustered Sanpei recoiled slightly and responded, "I…just read them for the coupons…"

"And all those girl's blogs I always see you on…" Ichinose chimed in.

"That detail aside, why are you watching me on my computer in the first place?!" Sanpei snapped.

"I do things when I'm bored, deal with it." Nijo airily replied.

Sanpei groaned before responding, "Well whatever, let's just follow them from afar and when an opportunity arises, we'll take it."

"Okay, but what're we gonna do if they recognize our voices or something?" Nijo retorted.

"Our faces shouldn't be a problem with our disguises," Sanpei reassured, "as for our voices, just do your best Kansai accent and you should be just fine."

"You sure that's gonna work?" Ichinose inquired.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Sanpei retorted, leaving his two counterparts to do some manner of nervous motion. He sighed, folded up his newspaper, tucked it under his left arm, and then gave his brothers a motion to move forward.

"_Aye, aye, mon captain…_" Nijo mumbled in a horribly broken French accent before following along with the rest.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

As if the exterior wasn't enough to boast about, the interior of the Kaiyukan was more than a feast for the eyes.

Through the main entrance, Seishirou and Raku entered to feel a burst of warm air (a pleasant reprieve), and stepped foot onto the same type of flooring as the exterior, every footstep made created a gentle clacking that seemed to fill the building with the childish life and enjoyment that it embodied. There were signs all around that had directions written in both English and Japanese that pointed in all directions and led to all sorts of habitats. From 'POLAR LIFE' to 'TROPICAL LIFE', the signs only further exemplified the aquarium's vastness.

The areas to pay for the tickets were to the immediate right or left of the entrance, and were currently being manned by two young women, one blonde and one brunette. They wore an aquarium uniform which was comprised of a light blue jacket with khakis. After the brunette, named Nakayama Yukinoshita, did some minor ogling at Seishirou, the two received their tickets, went past the turnstile, and entered the main area.

"Why do girls always do that, I wonder?" Seishirou mumbled as Raku and her cleared the clanging turnstile.

"Uh…who knows?" Raku shakily responded.

'_I still can't believe how popular she is with girls…honestly…' _Raku mentally agonized.

As they looked about their aquatic paradise, they couldn't believe just how many wonderful creatures the aquarium housed. Everywhere they looked there was something different. Parrot fish gently swaying back and forth as they swam in their enclosure, sleek eels creeping about their dark dank habitats, majestic angel fish occasionally locking eyes with their observers, artificial reefs colored all hues and shades of any color one could imagine, safely housing many smaller species of fish that emerged from the deep recesses of their reef homes in order to see who had come to visit this time, and many more all abound in this area. However, perhaps the most bothersome thing about this area was the mass amount of people here. All around one could hear dozens of languages and dialects being rattled off amongst the adults and children as they mired and remarked at the creatures they were observing.

Seishirou took a moment to absorb the essence of this area, then pulled Raku forward by his arm and began to wander about. Seishirou gazed on starry eyed at every little thing she could in the vast expanse, occasionally raising her fingers to the glass and gently tracing the path of the fish as they swam about. Raku was about to speak up and say something when they were near the eel area, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye. His eyes lit up, and the smile on his face instantly broadened.

Raku tugged at Seishirou and said, "C'mon, I think I found something you're gonna like!"

"Whoa, wait, wha-" Seishirou began before Raku dragged her past several exhibits and down a hall to the far left of the main room. As the duo travelled down a dark, enclosed hallway whose walls were polished granite, and were decorated with ornate light structures molded in the form of anemones, Seishirou wondered to herself, _'What's he planning this time? I mean, it's normally turned out well all the other times he's done this before, hasn't it?' _as Seishirou's shoes continued to clack against the floor, she thought about everything that had been happening over the past few days. And somehow, her mind continued to dwell on those words Raku uttered:

'_Why would Chitoge give a damn if I'm with a girl other than her?'_

The pure discontent was something Seishirou had never heard anywhere else…except from Chitoge herself whenever she spoke of Raku.

'_Just what is their relationship?' _Seishirou thought as they neared the end of the hallway, _'I don't know if I want to or not, but I have to entertain the possibility that they're a fake couple…'_

"We're here!" Raku exclaimed, as they reached then end and Seishirou saw just what Raku had dragged her to. Where they had emerged was a small room with a dome-like roof and a skylight that was opened to the outside as of current, making it somewhat chilly in the area. At the opposite end of the room was another hallway that, according to a nearby sign, led to areas where one could access the 'PENGUINS/SEALS, SMALL SHARKS, DOLPHIN EXHIBITION'. And all around Seishirou, there were manta rays and sharks. However, of course, Seishirou's eyes immediately shot to the left, towards the manta rays. It was an open enclosure with a small glass railing that people could reach over to pet manta rays as they surfaced. Seishirou released Raku from her grip and instantly ran over to the manta rays, screeching to a halt as she peered over to wall to see if any were about to surface. However, much to her and the rest of the people nearby's dismay, none seemed anxious to reveal themselves. As a few people walked away from the area to observe an employee enter the whale shark's habitat, Raku walked over to Seishirou's side and leaned up against the glass railing and said, "I'm sorry about this, I really thought you would enjoy this, so I rushed here…but I guess we got here too soon."

As Seishirou gazed on at a morose Raku whose eyes were glued at the water's placid surface, she thought, _'He rushed all the way here because he wanted to see me happy…Why does he care about me so much, huh? And why does it make my heart ache when he does care?'_

Seishirou's thoughts were interrupted by slight chuckling from Raku, as he turned away from the water's surface and faced Seishirou as he said, "Relax, they'll come around soon enough. You just have to have a little…patience." Several things happened as Raku said 'patience'. For one, he snapped his fingers loud enough that the entire room heard it, and for another, a manta ray emerged from the water's depths, and began drifting about the surface. Soon after, another followed, then another, and another still, until a total of four of the massive, majestic rays were at the water's surface, their wide mouths sporadically opening and closing beneath the water's surface occasionally, and shaking from side to side as the nearby observers (Seishirou inclusive) gently stroked their dorsal areas.

As Seishirou smiled a brighter smile than Raku had ever seen, she turned to him and inquired, "How did you-?"

"Well, while I was looking at the water I saw them begin to congregate near the bottom," Raku explained, "when I saw they were beginning to move towards the surface, I just timed my words and, ta-da." Raku finished as he gestured to the ray that was currently nuzzling up to Seishirou's hands.

"I've never been this close to one…" Seishirou remarked as she ran her hand across the full length of the creature's body and its pectoral fins, stopping before she reached its head area. "They're so smooth!"

"Are they really?" Raku inquired as he reached down to stroke the ray. However, as he did, his hand landed directly on top of Seishirou's. Neither of the two recoiled, or broke the contact, they just turned and stared at one another for a moment, both taking distinct notice of the raging blush on one another's face.

'_There it is again,' _Raku thought, _'that unusual feeling I only get when I'm around her…I mean, should I only be feeling this around Onodera?! So why do I always get like this around her…?'_

'_This overwhelming euphoria…' _Seishirou thought, _'and his hand is so…warm…comforting…and every time it happens, these feelings always come back stronger than ever…and for some reason, I don't want to run from it as much as I used to…'_

Seishirou opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a small child's voice coming from the duo's right saying, _"Mommy, are they in love?"_ in English.

The duo tensed up slightly as they looked down at the strapping young lad, who couldn't've been much older than 7, as his mother (a short redhead with a rather curvaceous figure) came in and said, _"Sweetie, why don't we go see the penguins?"_

"_But Mommy-" _the boy whined as he was dragged away.

"_Come on, come on…" _the boy's mother said as she walked on, _"Sorry about this!" _she called back to Raku and Seishirou.

"_I-It's fine!" _Raku called back. _"You might not be wrong…" _Raku added in a hushed mumbled underneath his breath.

"Wh-What did they just say?" Seishirou inquired of Raku.

"Huh?" Raku replied, "O-Oh, nothing really, you know how kids are."

"Y-Yeah…" Seishirou added. The duo nervously chuckled for a second before realizing they hadn't broken the contact of their hands. Exchanging a nervous and flustered smile the two lifted their hands away at the same time, before an announcement rang over the building PA as an announcer said:

"**Hello, and thank you ever so much for coming the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan today, your business is appreciated. I am here to inform you that the next dolphin exhibition is scheduled for 5 minutes from now. So, if you wish to observe, it is recommended that you hurry. Once again, thank you, and have an excellent day."**

Seishirou looked away from to PA to see that Raku's face was adorned with a smile brighter than that of a kid in a candy store. Seishirou chuckled at the fact, then said, "Well c'mon, we don't want to be late!" then grabbed a hold of Raku's arm and dragged him down the opposite end hallway, grinning all the was as she thought, _'Well, I suppose if he makes me happy, then I should do my best to make him happy…'_

As the duo exited, their 'pursuers', the Kazu siblings, emerged from around the hallway corner.

"Oi, Sanpei," Nijo moaned as he adjusted his English cap, "how much longer do we have to wear these disguises? I'm gonna get hat hair…"

"Oh, c'mon Nijo," Ichinose replied, "you don't hear Sanpei and I complaining about hat hair."

"That's because with those mops on your heads you both always have hat hair!" Nijo retorted, "Mine is a finely tuned do that takes me forever to-"

"If you're both done griping I feel it necessary to tell you that an opportunity just arose…" Sanpei interrupted as he adjusted his sunglasses.

"Ah, so you caught on to it too, Sanpei?" Ichinose remarked.

"Caught on to what? What?!" Nijo inquired as he shook Sanpei vigorously.

"Allow me to reply to your inquiry with one of my own," Sanpei retorted as he adjusted his sunglasses yet again, "how good are you at being an MC?"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: So what's Sanpei's brilliant plan?! And what does it mean for our couple? There's only one way to find out…check back next week for the thrilling conclusion to 'The Aquarium Day'!_

_I hope this kicks off your weekend properly, and I'll have the next chapter out sooner than you know it! However, for now, thank you for reading, and if you really want to show support, why not write a review/favorite the story/follow it?! And even if you don't, I'll still love you for taking the time to read this._

_Have a great day/week/month/year of your life, and I'll see you next week!_

_Until then,_

_See ya!_


	9. Aquarium Day, Part 3

_A/N: Hey guys, first of all, thanks for all the positive response on the prior chapter and for bearing with me while I write this chapter here (which I about had a nosebleed over during the planning phase)._

_Second of all, people who commented on my apparently 'warped' definition of time; yes, I realize, I was late. However, we're past that now. I even put in the extra effort necessary to get this chapter out a little early for your sake, and I'm doing my best to not let myself slip up. But, it happens sometimes, and no amount of 'sorry' on my part will ever make up for that in my opinion. _

_Okay, off the gloomy stuff and on to a more cheery aspect of our lives, this chapter!_

_So what did Sanpei have planned when he asked Nijo about being an MC? What havoc could that trio of siblings wreak on a simple dolphin exhibition? There's only one way to find out; shall we?_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

If there was anything Kaiyukan excelled at among its many other strengths, it was showmanship. And its outdoor exhibition plaza was yet another brilliant example of that said trait.

When one would leave the main aquarium from the main exit they would first come upon a large room filled with memorabilia of all the animals that had been on exhibit at Kaiyukan. It had the same style of tiling as the rest of the building, except its were many various hues of blue, and the walls were so crowded with newspaper articles and photos, one couldn't really tell what color they were anymore. From dolphins and sharks to manta rays and seals, it seemed as though Kaiyukan had held and exhibited everything one could think of. Articles dating back decades showed people of all ages (and all hairdos) cheering and rejoicing as a team of dolphins majestically crested, or a seal clapped at its trainer, and was rewarded with a scrumptious treat in the next photo.

After a stop in the memorabilia room, one would exit the main building and begin down a long, dark corridor. As soon as they reached the end of this, they would instantly be hit with the enrapturing, odiferous essence of the water, sourcing from the dolphin's 'stage'; a massive, circular pool. This particular pool appeared to be at least 15 meters deep, and more than double that across. Built around the pool were several platforms that the workers would gather on to give commands. It was also the area where the cameramen were positioned at that very moment, fine tuning their behemoth contraptions in all ways, shapes, and forms.

The bleachers, built on smooth, white, granite, were in 20 rows of alternating white and blue leather seats, separated periodically by several staircases with yellow rails that led down to a mezzanine which led to the exit. And directly behind the pool (in perspective to the exit), there was an enormous flat screen TV, most likely for those in the far back or for those who couldn't find seating in the amphitheater.

However, other than the main attraction, there was one more essential piece to this grand bowl. The MC's podium was a small platform elevated several meters above the pool and was several meters across. And upon this platform stood a sole man, dressed in a dark black, white-pinstripe suit with a bow tie and a pleated white dress shirt. He had slicked back red hair and sunglasses despite it being a cloudy, winter day. There were occasional peaks of the sun though.

The man took a seat upon the chair he had on his podium, and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. Flipping the red device open, he rapidly dialed a number, then held it to his ear as the dial tone rang a few times before a familiar voice picked up.

"What is it now?" Sanpei droned on the other end of the line.

"The better question is, 'Where do I begin'?!" Nijo exclaimed, doing a double take to ensure that the mic was off. "How did you set this up?"

"The MC here is my friend, and after a brief explanation-" Sanpei begin before Nijo interrupted.

"Whoa whoa _whoa,_" Nijo interjected, "you have friends?"

"Shut up." Sanpei promptly responded, "As I was saying, after talking with my friend, he said it would be permissible for you to cover, given the circumstances."

"Ah, so he's as lonely as you are, eh?" Nijo replied as he twiddled the microphone in his spare hand.

"I'm sorry, what was that? You want to wash _all _the dishes and clean _all _the bedsheets from Floor 22 when we get back to the hotel?" Sanpei shot back, "My, how generous of you, Nijo…"

Nijo silently bit his tongue, then replied, "So what do I do, huh? I don't have the first idea of what the dolphins are gonna do, nor do I have any idea what to say when they do it."

"Just ad lib it!" Sanpei responded, "But do it in a way that gets people pumped up."

"Sanpei, I provoke people, not pump them up." Nijo eloquently droned.

"Yes, and I got a paper cut this morning," Sanpei retorted, "but that's also among the 'List of Things Sanpei Doesn't Care About', now isn't it?"

Nijo cursed under his breath before casting a sigh and inquiring, "Is Ichinose ready?"

"Hang on, I'll add him to the call." Sanpei responded before creating a conference call between the three brothers.

It took a second due to the poor service in the area, but Ichinose's cheery voice picked up on the other end after a few seconds, and sang, "Hello~, Ichinose speaking!"

"Blegh," Nijo gagged, "if you're gonna do that every time I call you then remind me to delete your number."

"Ah, Nijo, good to hear from you!" Ichinose replied, "Are you already all set up up there?"

"I've been ready for the past 10 minutes you dolt!" Nijo angrily shot back.

"The better question is, 'are _you_ ready'?" Sanpei calmly inquired.

"Ah, Sanpei, you too?" Ichinose responded before saying, "Yep, my camera's all set up and I have my eyes on the entrance. They should be here any time."

"Excellent." a pleased Sanpei replied, "Alright, when Nijo gives the signal, you're to position the camera on them, from there, the crowd will work to our advantage and coax them into it."

"You really are brilliant, Sanpei!" Ichinose said in awe.

"Yeah, I guess there is something under that moldy mop of yours after all." Nijo chimed in.

Sanpei withheld his remark, and instead said, "Naturally." in a dignified tone.

"By the way, Sanpei, there's still one thing I don't get about all this." Ichinose chimed in.

"And what would that be?" Sanpei responded.

"Where are you in all this mess?" Ichinose inquired.

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing myself." Nijo added. "Where the hell are you?"

"I'm in the audience of course." Sanpei stated, "Where I can make a quick getaway in case one of you messes up."

"How comforting…" Nijo and Ichinose replied in unison. After Nijo finished that statement he made a quick scan of the crowd from his perch. He saw children of all ages, as well as an equal amount of adults, this was indeed a busy day. However, among them all, Nijo was able to pluck Sanpei from the crowd, thanks to his disguise. Sanpei was just to his right, in Row 5, casting a glance up to Nijo. Nijo flashed a cocky smile back at Sanpei, to which Sanpei responded by shuffling his newspaper around in a slightly disgusted manner.

"I see you down there, Sanpei." Nijo mused. "I told you that disguise would stick out."

"Oh, ok then," Sanpei began, "then why don't you take those ever so conspicuous sunglasses of yours, slather them in that disgusting hair gel of yours, and shove them right up your-"

"Eagles inbound," Ichinose interrupted, "I repeat: _Eagles inbound_."

"Finally," Nijo stated, "they kept us waiting long enough. I'd've thought that Mistress Seishirou would be a faster runner…"

"Comments aside, it's time for us to persecute." Sanpei declared. "Gentlemen, you know your roles, good luck."

"Yeah, good luck." Ichinose and Nijo said in unison before hanging up. As Nijo pocketed his phone and turned on his mic, he thought, _'Alright Sanpei, time for all those romance novels to pay off…'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Seishirou and Raku dashed out of the corridor, and were greeted by that oh so delicious aroma, one that made them both stop and gaze at the splendor of the amphitheater.

Raku's face was lit up brighter than Seishirou had ever seen. He looked more delighted than a child on Christmas morning, and his birthday, combined. Raku's eyes darted about the area, taking in every single small detail. From the people in the bleachers to the trainers that were subtly stroking the bottle nose dolphins and preparing them for their show, Raku looked absolutely enamored in all of it.

As his purple locks frayed in the chilly winter air, Seishirou allowed a small shiver to escape. Raku looked down at her, her strong yet frail figure underneath that gorgeous dress, which was currently rippling in the air, despite the scarf caused Raku's chest to ache.

Raku sighed as he began to unbutton his flannel shirt and said, "So the scarf wasn't enough, eh?" with a small smirk.

Seishirou pushed a few locks of her hair back into their original position, and reinforced her signature blue bow's hold on her hair before she looked up to Raku and replied, "D-Don't be ridiculous," she wrapped the scarf tighter around her neck, causing her face to flush even more. Be it from the cold or embarrassment, she wasn't even sure herself, "it's nothing I can't-"

"You know, you don't have to play tough around me," Raku said as he draped his plaid flannel over Seishirou, "it's fine. I understand."

Seishirou averted her gaze from Raku as she said, "Th-Thanks…"

'_Damn,' _Raku thought to himself, _'I really shouldn't have said that, should I…? But she seemed so weak, so-'_

"C'mon," Seishirou spoke up, hiding her glaringly obvious blush from Raku's view, "let's go find seats."

"Uh…yeah…" Raku replied as he walked on with Seishirou.

'_So, is she mad at me, or not? God, why do girls have to be so complicated…?' _Raku mentally droned, unable to deny the slight blush beginning to cross his cheeks.

The duo eventually found their seats, front row, only a scant few meters away from the pool. Raku's attention was equally torn between Seishirou and the stage in front of him. However, that didn't put a damper on his enthusiasm for this (at least not too much of one).

Seishirou's mind however was fully on Raku, and on nothing else. _'He did it again,' _Seishirou thought, _'and I liked it, even more than I liked it before…This pain in my chest, it grows every time he does something like this. This aching, this pining, it's for him…isn't it…I haven't been able to say it to myself, but maybe if I can say it out loud, then maybe…'_

"S-Say, Raku-" Seishirou began in a demure tone.

"Don't you think that's kinda dangerous?" Raku interrupted.

"Hm? What is?" Seishirou inquired.

"Having those huge, expensive cameras so near water." Raku said as he gestured to one of the cameramen (Ichinose) who had his camera lowered to the level of the water's surface, and was carefully following one of the three dolphin's movements as it swam about, looking absolutely mesmerized as he did so.

"Well, I suppose," Seishirou replied, "but they look like they're securely mounted, so I would think it's safe for them to do dynamic angles like that."

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, that's good for the people who can't be up front like us, isn't it?" Raku inquired.

"Well, it's not just that, it also adds a certain flair." Seishirou explained. "Plus, they'll most likely find a way to re-use the footage somewhere along the line. Probably for an advertisement for these exhibitions or something like that."

'_Whew,' _Raku thought to himself as he and Seishirou continued their conversation, _'she doesn't seem so uneasy anymore…'_

'_Did he sense that I was uneasy…?' _Seishirou thought, _'Does he really care about me that much?'_

It was at that moment that Nijo came booming over the microphone, and exclaimed, "_WELCOME, _one and all!" with great gusto. "Welcome to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan's dolphin exhibition, put on by our lovely group of trainers!"

As Nijo gestured to the two tall men, one had black hair, one had chestnut colored hair, along with a short, black haired woman, the shot upon the big screen changed to display them as they waved to the crowd, bringing on an uproar of applause.

"Thank you, thank you," Nijo declared, "and I'm your _lovely, charming_ MC-"

'_Shit!' _Nijo thought in a split second, _'I never thought up a fake name because Sanpei never told me to! Damnit, damnit, damnit! Wait, I know!'_

"Shiba Kazu!" Nijo finished.

'_Charming?' _Sanpei thought to himself.

Seishirou cupped her hand around her chin and muttered, "Hmm…"

Noticing Seishirou's concern, Raku spoke up and said, "Something wrong?"

"Well, it's probably nothing," Seishirou replied, "but doesn't that MC look kind of familiar?"

As Nijo prattled on and the trainers assumed their positions, Raku responded, "Well, I suppose. But his last name is Kazu, isn't it?"

"Come to think of it, that's right." Seishirou replied as she looked up to the MC's podium.

"Well, we'll just ask Sanpei when we get back." Raku replied. He chuckled as he went on to say, "But if he is one of their siblings, then…" Raku almost burst out laughing as he chuckled to himself, "_Shi_ba…"

Seishirou cocked her head to the side and inquired, "What's so funny?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." Raku replied as he calmed down and wiped a small tear from the corner of his right eye.

"If you say so…" Seishirou responded as she reverted her gaze to the pool.

'_Damn…why does his laugh have to be __**so**__…cute.' _Seishirou thought, her face immediately flushing as she thought the word 'cute'.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," Shiba boomed over the mic, "what you've all been waiting for, let's…**BEGIN!**"

In the half an hour or so that followed the basic things, a flurry of elaborate tricks and horribly ad libbed commentary ensued. However, the audience seemed to enjoy it.

First, the dolphins performed a synchronized figure-8 with their trainers, the sleek grey bodies' movements perfectly keeping rhythm with the slower, blue-swimsuited trainers as they cut the water's surface with perfect precision, entrancing the crowd, all save for Shiba who commented, "Yeah, but what other numbers can they do?"

Next, the trainers brought out large black hoops through which the dolphins performed synchronized jumps through. Their crests came to form not a single millisecond apart, and they hardly made a splash as their bodies pierced the water, bottle nose first. Shiba was less than amused and droned, "Can't we light those things on fire and get some _real _excitement going?"

Afterwards, the trainers brought out large, inflatable beach balls, which they used to play with the dolphins by tossing them at a dolphin, then immediately afterwards blowing a whistle a number of times, signaling them to bounce it in a certain direction. Shiba commented, "I could do the same thing by getting a few friends and a beanbag, show me something new…"

For the grand finale, the trainers exited the pool and gave the signal to the dolphins via their whistles. The dolphins submerged momentarily, but eventually crested, and skimmed the water's surface for several seconds, spraying water everywhere from their blowhole, drenching the majority of the audience in the front rows, save for Raku and Seishirou, who were tucked into a corner far enough that they avoided the majority of the spray. When it was all said and done, Shiba dryly stated, "I could get the same experience by sitting poolside and having someone swim by me on a boogie board with their thumb over a hose, but whatever…"

"Hey, have you noticed-" Raku began.

"Yeah, that MC…he's…" Seishirou chimed in.

"_Annoying_." The duo said in unison as they glared daggers at Shiba (A.K.A. Nijo).

"Achoo!" Shiba sneezed from atop his platform. "Whoa, excuse me!" he called to the audience.

"But the audience seems to love it…" Raku said as he looked around the bleachers at the laughing crowd. "For some reason…At any rate, that looks to be the end of the performance, so-"

Just as Seishirou and Raku were about to stand up, along with the majority of the crowd, Shiba exclaimed, "**Just one minute, please.**" in a commanding tone, bringing the audience back to its seats. "There's still one last thing we have to do!" as an eruption of inquiries and murmurs came over the crowd, Shiba explained, "As I can see, there are a fair amount of couples amongst the crowd, am I right, or am I wrong?" Again, people murmured in concurrence with Shiba. He flashed a cocky grin as he responded, "Therefore, we shall pick a random couple from the crowd, and showcase them on…_Kiss Cam!_" a round of applause erupted from the crowd as they cheered this endeavor. All except for two people…you guessed it; Raku and Seishirou.

While neither of the two said anything, their minds were storms of thought.

'_K-K-Kiss Cam?!' _Seishirou thought as she cast a nervous and flustered glance over to Raku, _'I wouldn't have to do it…would I? I mean, that's completely ridiculous; me and him…k-kissing…' _Seishirou would've shattered any EKG with the rate her heart was racing at as she thought, _'Why…Why do I feel, in the back of my heart, like I…want to…?'_

'_C-Calm down, Raku,' _Raku told himself as he straightened up his hair accessory and fluffed his purple locks, _'there's gotta be at least a hundred, maybe more, people here. So…why do I feel like I wouldn't mind…? M-Maybe if I just pretend it's Onodera…W-Well, my racing heart aside, what are the odds we'll get slapped on Kiss Cam…?'_

It was at that instant that Raku got his answer, as he saw the image on the flat screen behind Shiba change to that of him and Seishirou, bordered by many pink and red hearts.

"My my my!" Shiba boomed over the mic at the flustered and flushed Raku and Seishirou, "It looks like we have our winners, this lovely young couple right here!" As the crowd cast a plethora of 'aww's and 'oooh's at the duo, Shiba chanted, "Do it. Do it. Do it." and was soon joined by the majority of the crowd.

As the audience around them rhythmically chanted and egged them on in all manner of ways, Raku chuckled slightly as he brought his hand to his face to adjust his hair, and used the opportunity to mouth something to Seishirou, whose body's only color was the deep, crimson red of embarrassment.

Seishirou looked over to Raku at just the right time to see him mouth one thing:

"_Sorry_…"

before Raku took action.

Raku stood up, grabbing Seishirou's hand in the process as he pulled her to her feet. Nervous and shaking slightly, he pulled Seishirou close, and brought his lips to hers. Seishirou's eyes were opened in the beginning, but slowly closed as she melted into the luscious embrace. The cheer of the crowd, the nipping of winter's bitter winds, it all seemed to vanish in the fervor of the moment. 5 seconds seemed like an eternity as Seishirou felt the press of smooth lips against her own. Raku detected the slightest hint of strawberry flavor on the tips of Seishirou's already sweet lips, which he deduced to be from the crêpes they had eaten that morning. However, all flavors and textures aside, it was the pure passion that went into that kiss that made it such a show for people to see. It was as though something had just been created, something had been ignited in such an explosive way that the entire audience could feel it. Something denied finally accepted, and something unsure confirmed…perhaps they didn't know it yet, nor were they willing to admit it, but Raku and Seishirou both felt it.

When Raku finally broke the kiss, he looked a breathless Seishirou in the eye and said (blush painting his cheeks), "C'mon, my lady, let us be off!"

Seishirou, still dazed from what had just happened, was awoken when Raku swept her off her feat and into his arms, bridal-style, as he set foot onto the mezzanine and dashed as fast as he could without making it uncomfortable for Seishirou down the corridor and to the exit.

'_This is insane…' _Raku thought as he tread down the corridor, _'at first I just wanted to imagine it as Onodera, but I just couldn't at the moment. It felt like every desire I had to do that just…vanished…'_

'_I just had my first kiss…' _Seishirou thought as she steamed and fumed, her heat matching Raku's own perfectly, _'It wasn't awkward, and it wasn't scary…it was…relaxing…comfortable…' _Seishirou looked up to Raku as she thought, _'And the thing is…'_

'_The weird part is…' _Raku thought at that exact moment.

'_I want to do it again!' _the duo thought in unison as Raku burst through the doors to the memorabilia room.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The duo dashed about the aquarium for a while before before finally coming to rest at the gift shop near the exit. It was a quaint little shop with hardwood flooring, and blue and orange walls, all lined with every kind of marketable merchandise that Kaiyukan could slap its name/logo on. There were several aisles as well that all led to a back area where minor gifts were sold. The duo bolted to the back area where they came to rest next to the section where they sold postcards and other small souvenirs.

Panting and exhausted, the duo locked eyes for the first time after the kiss. Neither was sure what to say, Seishirou especially, but it was Raku who broke the silence and said, "Um…I'm gonna go see what they have up front…ok?"

"Y-Yeah…" Seishirou mumbled in reply as Raku walked a towards the main counter of the gift shop.

"Honestly, I can't tell what she's thinking…" Raku muttered to himself as he perused the merchandise on the counter, "Is she mad at me, is she fine with it? I just acted on impulse…" As Raku looked over the salt water taffy, he mumbled, "Maybe this _really is _my bad…She wasn't so mad about it the last time, but this time…" Raku had the sudden urge to see if this shop sold protective cups when something caught his eye. A subtle smile crossed his face as he called to the man tending the shop, (a man with chestnut hair who didn't look a day older than 30) gestured to a small wooden rack on the counter and inquired, "Excuse me, how much for these?"

"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!" Seishirou silently panicked, "Did he do that because he wanted to? Did he do that just because he had to?! Gah!" Seishirou kicked the base of the wooden postcard rack, causing several of the cards and their envelopes to fall to the floor. Surprisingly enough, this drew no attention from the store hands on duty. _'Well, regardless of whether he enjoyed it or not,' _Seishirou thought, _'I know one thing for sure…I liked it…' _a surprisingly girlish squeal escaped Seishirou's lips as she thought, _'So, do I tell him? Or do I let him figure it out on his own? Oh, I have no idea how these things work! This whole thing is just-'_

Before Seishirou could finish her mental rant, into her vision entered a small manta ray cell phone charm, held by none other than Raku. Seishirou traced Raku's arm with her eyes before eventually locking eyes with the man himself. Raku ruffled his hair slightly before saying, "Here…to make up for what I did…"

"To make up for-" Seishirou began.

"Look, I can understand if you're mad at me," Raku interrupted, his voice painted with sincerity, "I mean, who would want to kiss a guy like me, am I right? So, I got you this…" As Seishirou returned her gaze to the charm, Raku continued, "I also got myself one, even though they're not really my thing," as he pulled from his pocket his phone to reveal a dolphin charm dangling from it, "I thought it would be nice to match." As Seishirou's heartbeat skyrocketed, Raku finished, "Look like I said, if you're mad at me, when we get back to the hotel, I'll ask them to put me in an entirely separate room and we never have to talk again. I wouldn't blame you if you did that…"

'_Even after he does something like that…' _Seishirou thought, _'he still considers me above all else…'_

Seishirou chuckled in a feeble attempt to quell her glaringly obvious blush as she took the charm from Raku's grasp and said, "That won't be necessary…" Raku looked at her with a confused look as she produced her phone from her pocket and clamped on the charm, "Because you can't apologize for something you didn't do wrong." Raku's face slowly lit up back into his usual smile as Seishirou continued, "I-I would've done the same thing under those circumstances, so I suppose I can let you off the hook this time."

The duo chuckled at Seishirou's sly way of saying that before Raku glanced at his cell phone and saw the time. "Oh no, we'll miss the bus if we don't hurry! C'mon!" Raku exclaimed as he grabbed Seishirou's wrist and dragged her out of the gift store.

All the while Seishirou had on one of the most honest smiles she had ever worn.

'_I had always thought as much,' _Seishirou thought as they dashed past the trout, _'but I could never say it to myself. Until that moment, that is…' _as the image of their kiss ran through her mind, Seishirou's heart rate increased yet again. _'This sensation, this overwhelming feeling…it's what everyone told me, and up until now, I didn't want to say it. But now…I have to…_

_I'm in love with Raku Ichijo…'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Well Seishirou's finally come honest with herself! So how will this pan out over the rest of this vacation? And does Raku feel the same way? And why do __**I **__have to pay for the Kazu sibling's bus fare?!_

_The answers to all these questions and more will come soon! Until then, keep reading!_

_Thanks for reading this chapter, if your really enjoyed it, why not write a review/favorite it/follow it? And if you don't that's fine, I'll still love you!_

_Thanks for bearing with me and I'll see you next week sometime!_

_Until then,_

_See ya!_


	10. Aquarium Day, Aftermath INTERLUDE

_A/N: I…I don't even know what to say about this…_

_First, let me begin by saying that this wasn't the chapter I had originally planned for this week. I initially wanted to release a completely different chapter, the beginning of a new day. However, I had some, let's say, 'technical difficulties', and that chapter currently has to be…touched up._

_Interpret the prior explanation in whatever way you want, but either way, anticipate a new chapter soon to compensate for the difficulties (hopefully)._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"You go on ahead," Raku said to Seishirou as the duo entered through the automatic doors of the Grasmere, "I have…something I want to discuss with the Kazus."

"O-Oh, alright…" Seishirou meekly replied, still attempting to sort out everything that she was feeling.

The lobby of the Hotel Monterey Grasmere Osaka was once again barren, save for Nijo and Sanpei at the receptionist's desk (who appeared to be rather exhausted for some bizarre reason), whose chatter echoed off the ornate walls and floor. As far as Raku could tell from an immediate eavesdrop, they were giggling like school girls about some 'plan' that they had set up.

"I-I'll just head up to the room…" Seishirou said, again, unusually sheepish about the whole ordeal, and refusing to make her usual sassy eye contact with Raku.

Raku placed his hand on her shoulder and inquired, "Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

Feeling a euphoric shiver run up and down her spine as she locked eyes with her newfound love, she couldn't help but linger on the vision before she responded. His brazen, messy purple locks, those deep eyes of his, that subtle grin that always danced at the corners of his lips, she was completely enraptured by every detail of him. "Y-Yeah," Seishirou responded, shaking free of Raku's grasp, "the bus ride back was just really bumpy."

"Oh, yeah…I suppose it was." Raku replied as he watched Seishirou scurry away, the brilliant blush on her face radiating intense heat that he was entirely oblivious to.

'_So this is what love feels like…' _Seishirou lamented as she leaned up against the back wall of the elevator and collapsed, _'It completely consumes you…you feel it in every fiber of your being, and in everything that you do. You feel it overtake every action you perform when you're around the one you love. And no matter what you do, you can't get rid of it.' _Seishirou ran her right thumb over her bottom lip as she remembered the kiss once more, instantly overcome by a tidal wave of emotion. _'If this is what love feels like…I never want it to stop…'_

Raku waited until Seishirou entered the elevator before heaving a heavy sigh of disdain at himself. As he gazed down at his sneakers, kicking at the decorative stones, he heard a whistle from over by the receptionist's desk. He turned his head to see Nijo remove his two pinkie fingers from his mouth, then beckon him over. He glanced to Sanpei who gave a reaffirming nod, then strutted over to the desk.

When Raku reached the desk, he pulled up one of the nearby bar stools, took a seat, and slammed his head against the counter.

"Ah, the young Master is in dismay," Nijo slyly observed as he further spiked his faux hawk with a black comb he produced from the pocket of his suit vest, "wouldn't you say, Sanpei?"

"Indeed I would, Nijo," Sanpei remarked as he adjusted his glasses and pushed his green locks out of his peripheral vision, "Indeed I would."

"And pre tell, what is the cause of said dismay," Nijo inquired, "Young Master Raku?"

"Can I ask you guys a question?" Raku replied, lifting his head from the counter.

"Shoot." Nijo responded.

"But of course." Sanpei replied.

Before Raku spoke, he looked left and right, then inquired, "Wait, where's Ichinose?"

"Last I saw of him he said he was out looking for a new napping spot…" Sanpei replied, the venom in his voice was palpable.

"I think he said something about the janitor's closet on Floor 13…" Nijo mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" Sanpei remarked.

"Oh, nothing." Nijo airily replied.

"Well," Raku began, "you guys know about women, right?"

"_Do I know about women-_" a saucy Nijo began but was cut short by a swift blow to the side from Sanpei. "Yes, I know about women…"

"And, being the oldest," Sanpei responded, averting his grimace from Nijo, "I naturally do."

"Well, what do you do when you did something to a girl," Raku began, "and she said it was alright, but you don't know if she really meant it or not?"

"_My, my, Master Raku,_" Nijo began as he put the tips of his fingers on his lips, "I knew you were bold, but to think that you would do something like that to Mistress Seishirou-" after yet another sharp blow to the side, courtesy of Sanpei, Nijo shut up again.

"What exactly did you do, Master Raku?" Sanpei inquired, his tone slightly giddy in nature.

"Well, we were at the aquarium today," Raku responded, "and when we were watching the dolphins, out of nowhere, we got put on '_Kiss Cam' _by the crazy MC, and so I kinda kissed her…" after some murmurs from the duo, Raku continued, "She said it wasn't my fault, and that she was alright with it! But now I'm not so sure…"

"Crazy MC?" Nijo mumbled to himself.

"Well there's your first mistake." Sanpei interjected, adjusting his glasses once again.

"Eh?" Raku inquired, confused.

"When a girl says something's alright," Nijo explained, "chances are everything's not alright and that your decision was positively erroneous in nature."

"Indeed." Sanpei replied. "And if that's the case then your only hope right now is to beg for repentance. I suggest jewelry or something to that accord."

"Uh…" Raku responded, throughly confused by what had just been said.

"In the lay vernacular," Nijo replied, "you're fucked."

"Oh yeah, big time." Sanpei chimed in, patting Nijo on the back.

"_Great…_" Raku droned.

"However…" Nijo added.

"However?" Raku perked up. "What 'however'?

"There's always the option that she, oh I don't know, _actually likes you_." Nijo replied, a smug grin decorating his face.

Raku felt his heart stir at the thought of him potentially being the object of Seishirou's affections. Sanpei must've noticed, as he remarked, "Something tells me you'd prefer option number two…"

"Well, we've told you what we can," Nijo stated, "so now it's up to you to you to decide. Which option is more likely?"

"Choose, Young Master Raku…" Sanpei boomed in that chocolate tone of his.

Raku felt his emotions battling inside of him, but he found himself at a definite conclusion about something. He instantly remembered Seishirou eyeing the macarons at the airport and inquired, "Where's the closest bakery?"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: Again, my deepest apologies about the technical difficulties, and I hope you'll bear with me._

_Thanks for reading and if you really enjoyed this interlude, why not write a review/favorite the story/follow the story? And even if you don't I still appreciate your time!_

_I'll see you soon!_


	11. Shopping Day, Part 1

_A/N: Hi all. First off, allow me to explicate a bit on what I meant by 'technical difficulties' a few days ago._

_Now, understand that I've had many a blunder in my life, but this one…oh boy this one…_

_So…what would you do if I told you that I was writing this chapter at around 4 A.M. in the morning and I fell asleep, and my laptop died…and I kinda sorta lost the chapter because I forgot to save it and Word refused to recover it when I rebooted my computer…Yeah…_

_Well, whether you believe a person can be that boneheaded or not, that's what happened…_

_Anyways, off that, and onto the chapter!_

_So, last we read, Raku was going to attempt an act of repentance towards Seishirou, upon Nijo's recommendation. How will it all work out? And what will Seishirou feel?_

_There's only one way to find out…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Raku nervously said into his phone as the cold wind nipped at his face.

"Absolutely!" Nijo chimed in from the other end of the line.

Raku sat on a bench on the sidewalk of a busy strip of downtown. Well, it wasn't so much downtown as it was pre-downtown. It was alive and bustling with plenty of people of all ages to be sure, each dead set on reaching their destination, stopping for no minor disturbance, and advertisements for popular clothes manufacturers and restaurants blared over the electronic billboards on the large buildings near him. However, it was nowhere near as chaotic the main strip of Osaka, which Raku had had a small glimpse of when they were on their way to the Grasmere. The sheer noise from that maelstrom of a place was enough to make the bus windows tremble slightly, and the franticness of the people there was palpable.

Raku heaved a small sigh of relief as he came back to reality and realized that he wasn't in that madhouse of a place. Raku took a second before replying to Nijo to re-asses his situation. To his left were several places of business. One was an antique shop, one was a winery, one was a thrift shop, and one was the building for '**The Law Offices of Takahara and Tatsuya**'. To Raku's right was the curb which led down the strip to several other shops, some of which Raku took a genuine interest in, such as the small marine trinket shop on the other side of the street (which was surprisingly calm today), or the market that had a special on foreign spices and recipes.

'_Hey, an Italian place! I could make lasagna…' _As the winter breeze ruffled Raku's hair, he looked at the gray sky for a second as he thought, _'I wonder if she has a taste for Italian cuisine…' _Raku then averted his eyes from the sky and stared at the store (named '**Yotsuba's Delicacies**'), _'I should ask her when I get that chance…' _ Raku shook his head at that thought and wondered, _'How does she always manage to work her way into my thoughts?'_

"Uh, hello? Earth to Raku?" Nijo rang from over the phone Raku had pressed to his chilled ear.

Raku snapped out of his trance and replied, "O-Oh yeah, what's up?"

"Are you sure you're clear on the plan?" Nijo inquired, his tone peppered with the slightest bit of doubt.

"Y-Yeah, 'course!" Raku replied with faux confidence.

'"'_Course"?' _Raku thought right after he said it, _'Shit…Marika might be inadvertently affecting me even here.'_

Although Raku couldn't see Nijo, he could feel his frown as he said, "I'm not so sure…Let's go over it one more time, just to humor me."

"Alright, fine…" Raku droned as he reluctantly lent Nijo the ear he requested.

"Alright, here we go." Nijo began, a modicum of slyness slithering its way into his already cocky tone, "What you're gonna do is take her shopping, you told her you were meeting here for that, right?"

"Yeah," Raku replied, "I told her that I was doing this to make up for everything that's happened so far."

"Being a kiss ass before the actual apology," Nijo mused, "nice job, kid. You're going places."

"I thought I was 'Young Master Raku'." Raku playfully sneered.

"That's when you're at the hotel." Nijo retorted. "This is strictly casual business, so I get to call you whatever I want."

"Yeah, yeah…" Raku droned, feigning attention.

"Yeah, I thought so…" Nijo replied. "Anyways, work your way down the walk, pop into a few stores here and there, get her something she wants, here and there, and then, after you've gone two blocks, turn to your right and you'll see the bakery where I pre-ordered the macarons under the name 'Raku Ichijo'."

"And from there I just pick them up, give them to her, and formally apologize at the park you mentioned?" Raku inquired.

"Precisely! And there's where you find out whether she really liked it, or if she hated it!" Nijo responded with great gusto.

"And you're _sure_ this'll work?" Raku inquired.

"Either that or it'll render you infertile, if you catch my drift…" Nijo responded, worry painting his voice.

Raku gulped heavily and managed to utter an inquiry, "O-One last thing before I go,"

"Shoot." Nijo replied.

"Do you have a family member named 'Shiba Kazu'?" Raku inquired.

There was a short pause where only the ambience of the hotel came from the other end of the line before Nijo responded, "O-Oh yeah, of course! Ol' Shiba's a, uh…distant cousin of mine!"

"Oh, just wondering." Raku responded.

'_I thought he looked like him…' _Raku mused to himself.

"Oh yeah, and one last thing," Nijo began, regaining Raku's attention. "Listen, there's something you need to know about that street you're gonna turn onto."

"What is it?" Raku inquired, a modicum of worry tainting his tone.

"Let's just say it's a little…_crowded_." Nijo replied. "So let me refresh you on the name of that bakery, it's E-"

"Raku?" Seishirou's voice called from a few steps away from Raku.

Raku quickly pocketed his phone, not even realizing that he had hung up on an important piece of information, then stood up, straightening out his outfit.

Raku was unusually dressed up today, wearing a brown full men's winter coat, complete with leather gloves, with a dark blue plaid scarf that was fraying slightly at the end, dark black dress pants with a golden-buckled belt (courtesy of the hotel), and a button up blue shirt underneath.

Seishirou, on the other hand, was dressed in a thick indigo blue sweater that depicted snow falling upon a grassy landscape, causing it to be white about the torso area (however, there was an entirely different cause for it being tight about the chest area. One which Raku felt he already _very _familiar with…), along with the scarf that Raku had given her the previous day, her hallmark blue ribbon in her perfectly combed locks that danced about the curves of her face, and khaki dress pants.

As Raku mired at her perfect figure, he couldn't help but focus on her face. Raku didn't know why, but, up until the moment he kissed Seishirou, he hadn't ever taken notice of how beautiful Seishirou really was. Her lipid eyes that guised a maelstrom of emotions, her button nose, and those enticing, enrapturing lips…Raku felt a small jolt of euphoria hit him as he remembered the time he felt the press of those heavenly lips on his.

"O-Oi…Raku?" Seishirou said in a slightly worried tone, "Are you alright?"

'_Being worried about someone you love is only natural, right?' _Seishirou thought to herself, _'Or, wait, maybe he'll think I'm being overbearing…Agh…How does this 'love' thing work in the first place?'_

Snapping out of his daze Raku replied, "Y-Yeah, I'm just fine, thanks for worrying." with a small smile.

Seishirou felt a chill race up and down her spine at those words and she thought, _'Why am I so put at ease by little things like that?'_

"G-Good…" Seishirou meekly replied. However, she immediately resumed her normal, assertive, tone as she inquired, "So, you said you wanted to take me shopping today?"

"Y-Yeah…" Raku responded. "I figured that after all the mishaps you've had, you deserve a day like this."

'_Could he be talking about…' _The memory of the kiss raced through Seishirou's mind as she thought that, _'But I told him that I wasn't mad at him for that…However, I never told him that I liked it either…But I could never tell him that…Not when he's dating milady-'_

"_Why would Chitoge give a damn if I'm with another woman?"_

Seishirou heard those words echo in her head yet again, and her mind came alive with all sorts of insecurities and unsureness.

'_To think…the guy I was ordered to kill is the guy I…fell in love with…' _Seishirou felt a small chuckle escape her lips, which ignited Raku's curiosity.

"Yeah, I know, the color doesn't suit me, but it was all they had at the store." Raku said as he opened his coat slightly to reveal the outfit he had on underneath.

"Huh?" Seishirou responded, confused.

"Oh, you weren't chuckling about the coat?" Raku inquired as he re-buttoned his coat and tightened his scarf.

"N-No." Seishirou responded. "However, it is a funny color for you…" Seishirou finished as she began to chuckle in an oddly girly way.

"Oi." Raku flatly said, only causing Seishirou to chuckle more.

"Wh-What are you?" Seishirou joked, "A P.I.?"

Raku couldn't help but laugh along at that one as he ruffled up his hair and struck a dangerous-looking pose, much to the curiosity of several passersby.

After the couple calmed down Raku beckoned for Seishirou to follow him. "C'mon," he said, "let's go."

As Seishirou began to follow along, she thought to herself, _'Come to think of it, do we maybe…look like a couple in this situation?' _as Seishirou's gaze drifted about the various storefronts, she couldn't help but notice the glance of several passersby come upon her as the duo strutted past several storefronts. Some were small children curious about such affairs, others were boys and girls around their age making subtle remarks about the duo. All the rest were what Seishirou assumed to be tourists or people who just didn't care. _'Also, something else I've noticed…' _Seishirou thought, _'We're walking rather fast…aren't we?' _

Indeed Seishirou couldn't help but notice that Raku wasn't really peacefully walking, as he normally did. He was instead speed walking along, and at a somewhat remarkable pace.

'_I thought this was supposed to be a shopping day…' _a somewhat suspicious Seishirou thought, _'Although, I never really was one for girly things like that…meaning…' _as the moment of realization hit her, Seishirou sped up slightly to match Raku's pace, _'he has something else planned.' _Seishirou swallowed slightly as she thought, _'I-If he had something else planned, then could you call this a…date?' _As Seishirou shifted her posture slightly she went on to think, _'N-No way! This doesn't even fit the definition of the word 'date', does it?' _As the couple neared the end of the block Seishirou thought, _'Oh, what's the use in denying it…I want this to be a date…I just can't say it out loud or else-'_

"Here, this way!" Raku said as he grabbed hold of Seishirou's hand and dragged her to the right. The warm grip offered by his gloved hand instantly sent a soothing wave throughout Seishirou's being.

'_He's hardly touching me,' _Seishirou thought as Raku slowed his pace and began pushing through several groups of people, _'but I still feel so serene…'_

'_Almost there,' _Raku thought, the knots in his stomach beginning to tighten. Raku cast a glance behind him to make sure Seishirou was still there, and looked back to see her blankly staring at him with those bottomless eyes of hers. He gulped slightly and thought, _'Shit…look at that stare…she's obviously mad about this, isn't she?' _As the duo strolled by a small glassblowing shop, Raku thought he could smell the essence of sweets already, despite them being at the end of the street. _'Redemption, forgiveness…and it's all right there-' _

Time froze for Raku in that instant. Though Seishirou couldn't tell, Raku was in the middle of the scare of his life. As Raku's eyes scanned the end of the block, he saw three separate bakeries. Now, under normal circumstances, this would be nothing. But that's when he realized something.

Nijo never told him the name of the bakery.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_A/N: With Raku entangled in a rather sticky wicket, what will come of this mess? Will he choose the right place? Or is this the end of the Ichijo family line? Tune in Saturday to find out!_

_Thanks for reading and again, I'm sorry about the small flub ups I've had. _

_If you really enjoyed this chapter why not write a review/favorite the story/follow the story? However, even if you don't, I'll still love and appreciate you!_

_I'll see you next time!_


End file.
